Masque a modern day Brew

GEELONG Cup winning trainer Mike Moroney has compared rising stayer Vengeur Masque to Melbourne Cup champion Brew.

The six-year-old snared a memorable Geelong Cup win yesterday, holding off late challenges from Violate and Gallic Chieftain to take the $300,000 Group 3 race.

And Moroney is confident his horse can keep maturing and become a major spring player, in time.

“He is a real two-miler, he has finally come of age,” Moroney said.

“He is a similar sort of horse to Brew (Moroney’s 2000 Melbourne Cup winner). When they get strong they can give a strong gallop and he is just starting to get there

“(He is a) real stayer, slow maturing, a really different horse when they get strong.

“Brew improved 10 lengths in one campaign. This horse here has more improvement (still to come).”

Brew’s win in the Melbourne Cup with Kerrin McEvoy aboard put Moroney’s name on the map.

But it was a slow burn. Brew slowly had to navigate his way through the classes.

Eventually he hit his peak in 2000 and snared a memorable Melbourne Cup win.

Vengeur Masque has had a different journey to the top. He was brought out from Europe to race in Australia’s best staying races.

But the one thing they have in common is that Moroney has given them time.

“Kudos must go to my brother Paul. He selected him,” Moroney said.

“He wasn’t an overly expensive horse for what you’ve got to pay for Melbourne Cup horses. We snared him quite early.

“We were a bit lucky he travelled to England and ran in the St Leger and disappointed and the owners decided to sell him after that. We were a bit lucky, really.

“He is taking the preparation like a mature horse now. He is handling the workload and not losing weight.

“He was dropping off last year because he was still immature. Now that he’s matured he has handled the workload.”