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Patience was the key to Groenewegen when he came with a well-timed run to blouse En Civil in the closing stages on Sunday.
Not only in the way he was handled by jockey Corey Brown like he had a clock in his head in the $60,000 Class 4 Division 1 race over 1400m, but also as a nod to trainer Cliff Brown and his staff for giving him plenty of time to come into his own.
The striking-looking three-year-old son of Commands was one horse the Australian conditioner saw with a bright future early doors. An emphatic all-the-way win second-up franked that impression but his subsequent runs had left him and connections, the Dish & Dime Stable, scratching their heads.
If Groenewegen was not living up to his promise, he was unfortunately taking after the former Footscray Australian rules football player (Robert Groenewegen) he was named after – talented but a bit mad, according to Brown.
The colt was gelded after his last 2015 start, but the snip to the undercarriage did not produce any real turnaround either. Brown did not give up, though, and his efforts were at last rewarded on Sunday, thanks also to a gem of a ride from the other Brown, another close contender for the “Patience Award”, if ever there was one.
At the 800m with Special ID (Benny Woodworth) blazing away with a commanding break upfront, Mighty Glory (Nooresh Juglall) and En Civil (Shafiq Rizuan) clapped on the speed, presumably to stay in touch with the pace, a move which Brown felt was a smidgin premature.
The Australian hoop decided to keep his gun cocked for another 200m before pulling the trigger. En Civil had in the meantime swept past the tiring Special ID while favourite Mr Mosa (Danny Beasley) was labouring under pressure, but Groenewegen ($25) finished with a flourish to upstage En Civil by a head.
Mr Mosa soldiered on for third another two lengths, doing just enough to outplug Special ID by a neck. From the way they went like last month’s pay upfront, it was not surprising the time recorded was a smart 1min 21.74secs for the 1400m on the Short Course, only 1.16 second outside the record established by Super Ninetyseven in 2013.
“(Former racing manager) Chris Bock, who left us and returned to Australia two weeks ago, always said he was a growing horse the whole time. He has just matured physically as well,” said his trainer.
“We’ve taken our time with him, he was going nowhere at the end of last year and we gelded him, but even then, the results were not immediate.
“He’s been showing some signs of improvement lately. The fast pace suited him today, and it’s good he’s finally won.
“I once thought he could be a Guineas horse but we have scrapped that idea. We’ll get something else out of him.”
The other Brown said he did well not to fall into the trap of jumping on the bandwagon of giving chase from the midway point.
“Shafiq and Juglall went too early. If I had followed them, I wouldn’t have won,” said the experienced jockey.
“It was probably that lightning speed that worked in our favour in the end. I just let him stride along and he just powered home in the last 100m.”
The Australian jockey was seen at his very best when he balanced up his mount from the top of the straight to peel off the back of En Civil and lower down for his final assault inside the last furlong, wielding his stick in the more Australian old-school style late - which he tends to revert to when the chips are really down - to extract the best from Groenewegen.
With that second win, the gelding has now knocked in stakes earnings in excess of $125,000 for his owners.
