Trainer Pat Keegan was a happy man after pulling the right rein with his gritty gelding Flaneur at New Plymouth on Saturday.

Keegan, who prepares the five-year-old son of Highly Recommended as one of his three-strong team at Hawera, had pretty much convinced himself to scratch his charge with rain pouring down before the first event on the card making the track extremely heavy for racing.

Having second-guessed himself in the past he took the plunge and left the horse in the race, which proved a masterstroke as Flaneur showed plenty of resilience to prevail in a titanic four-way struggle with The Letter, Our Lady Brooke and Who’s Complainin.

Keegan wore a beaming smile as he waited for his charge to make his way back to the winners’ circle after the race.

“He did the job for us in the end as I nearly scratched him on the way here,” Keegan said.”

“I’ve done that before and they have turned around and won so it worked again today.”

Rider Kevin Kalychurun had been aboard for the maiden win by Flaneur on his home track at Hawera in late July and admitted he was surprised by how well Flaneur handled the testing ground..

“It’s pretty horrible out there and I wasn’t confident as last time on a track like this he didn’t show much,” he said.

“Today I think the blinkers on got him worked up a bit in the gates but he got up handy early on.

“Rounding the home turn everybody seemed to be going out wide and I thought I would just stay where we were and he got a dream run.

“Thanks to Pat Keegan as he has always been loyal to me and it is always good to ride winners for small trainers like that.”

Bred by Cambridge Stud couple Brendon and Jo Lindsay, Flaneur is out of their Zabeel mare Zaviera who won two races before being retired to the broodmares paddock.

He comes from an extended family that includes multiple Australian stakes winner Alverta along with Singapore Guineas (1600m) winner Revolte.

Only three races on the eight-race card were completed before the effects of the heavy rain saw the meeting abandoned with surface water restricting the visibility of both horse and rider over many sections of the track.