Von Hauke’s career holds several forgettable moments for Cliff Brown, such as last year’s Golden Mile, and on Saturday for slightly more than a minute, he braced for the 2026 race to follow suit.
Nevertheless, diverging from last year’s fate where the habitually ill-fated gelding was impeded much of the straight and ended fourth by 1-1/2 lengths, he located the splits timely to unleash a dramatic winning burst in the $200,000 Listed spectacle.
Brown frequently endures stress tracking the six-year-old’s runs and was pleased the progressive type earned the rub of the green for a win he regarded as overdue.
“I thought it might be history repeating itself, that’s for sure,” Brown said when asked his thoughts in the run.
“Good on him. He’s a lovely horse and he seems to be improving.
“I think mentally he’s better. Physically I think they take time, but mentally he’s a lot better. He still overraced a little bit, but he’s far better than he was.”
Von Hauke jumped at $11 from Bendigo, earning his fifth success across 27 races by maneuvering forward inside the final 100m to lead and fend off Wonder Boy ($4.60) in the 1600m test.
Shockletz ($12), resuming as a stayer, produced a sharp closing effort for third place, a half-length behind the placegetter.
The gelding’s return to form echoed his prior heart-stopping win in the Group 2 Crystal Mile at Cox Plate Day, as Harry Coffey affirmed his superiority.
“He’s got a great little turn of foot, he just needs races run to suit,” Coffey said.
“He was the best horse in the race, he just needed things to be run how he likes, it was and we’ve seen how good he is.”
Trainer Brown plans for Von Hauke to head Queensland-bound for Winter Carnival action, sans specific targets, yet amenable to 1400m in June’s Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap.
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