After years of patience, trainer Cliff Brown finally believes he’s unlocked the best of Von Hauke, who broke through for a career-highlight win at Moonee Valley on Saturday.

The six-year-old Savabeel gelding ended a 19-month drought with a strong performance in the $400,000 Group 2 Crystal Mile under jockey Ethan Brown.

It was redemption for Von Hauke, who had been unlucky in the same race 12 months ago when fourth behind Plenty Of Ammo, and Brown said Saturday’s victory showed how much the horse had matured.

“He’s a nice horse and he’s racing really tractably at the moment,” Brown said.

“I think you can see how well he was traveling as Ethan hadn’t moved and he just had to wait for the breaks.

“He was very good. He just needed the breaks and we got them.

“I think he’s really matured and everyone at home has done a great job with him.”

After a quiet first-up effort in The Heath (1100m), Von Hauke began to turn heads with promising runs in the Group 3 Sandown Stakes (1500m) and Group 3 Headquarters Stakes (1400m) at Flemington.

Luck appeared to desert him again in the run, but a gap opened at the top of the straight and he sprinted through to score by a length over Golden Path ($4.20), with favourite Rise At Dawn ($2.90) another nose away in third.

“I had him humming underneath me and I could see those horses rolling around so it was just a matter of time,” Ethan Brown said.

“We haven’t had a lot of luck lately but he stuck solid and we were able to get the job done today.”

Back in winning form, Von Hauke is now likely to tackle Group 1 company on Champions Day in either the Champions Mile (1600m) or Champions Stakes (2000m).

Punters can follow Von Hauke’s next run by comparing markets at top Australian betting sites such as Sportsbet, Ladbrokes and TAB.