By David Nagel
Beau Mertens now sits proudly on the list of Pakenham Cup-winning jockeys alongside his late-father Peter after a daring front-running ride secured the 2024 cup on Goldman on Saturday.
Peter, who passed away in June 2023 after a three-year battle with pancreatic cancer, won two Pakenham Cups in three years aboard Lord Kingston (2002) and Youthful (2004) at the old track on Racecourse Road.
But this time it was Beau’s turn to shine, providing legendary trainer Gai Waterhouse (now training with Adrian Bott) her first win in the time-honoured classic.
Goldman, a six-year-old gelding out of Verdi/Goldsmith, went to straight to the lead from barrier four and withstood a brave challenge from the Jason Warren-trained Grand Pierro in the straight to win the Listed $300,000 feature over 2500 metres.
Mertens was thrilled to join his dad on the exclusive honour roll of champions.
“It’s unbelievable; many years later, you can get the job done,” he reflected.
“It’s always good picking off races that Dad won, and obviously when he was still with us, we used to get winners and I used to judge if he had won one or if I had won one.
“And most of the time, he’d always have one up on me.
“So, it’s always good to tick off some races that he’s had some great success in.”
Mertens said the instructions were pretty basic on Saturday, given Waterhouse’s propensity over the years for having horses that camp on the pace.
“We spoke to Gai this morning, and basically her only instructions were: ‘Give it a Gai Waterhouse ride’,” Mertens said.
“It’s pretty simple when she wants that done and she presented the horse in great order for me to do so.
“Once I jumped and got to the front, I just had a very enjoyable time; just built from the 800 and in typical Waterhouse fashion, they kept running.”
Mertens said Goldman dug deep in the straight after appearing to be headed with 200 metres left to run.
“He was always in front and I was pretty confident at the 100 (metres) he was going to hold on because Grand Pierro came up beside me and really tested him,” he said.
“But my bloke really dug deep…he was strong.
“When I quickened up in the straight and I just had a lovely run, I got a bit excited.
“But it is a long straight here at Pakenham so I wasn’t counting my pennies too early.
“But good credit to the horse, and obviously Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott and their staff have done a terrific job getting this horse back to win a race like this.”
Waterhouse/Bott stable representative Harry Winnard said it was a great thrill to see Goldman back in the winners’ stall, for the first time since completing four consecutive wins from November 2022 to March 2023.
“That was absolutely brilliant, you know Gai and Adrian have done a brilliant job with him, and that was a brilliant performance today,” Winnard said.
“It’s been a long time coming for him; he had a bit of a dry spell, but that’s brilliant.
“He’s been down here for about two to three weeks now.
“Sydney have done a brilliant job with him, and then he’s come down here; he’s settled in really well, and he’s run a great race now.
“His work recently has been absolutely brilliant.
“He worked last week and he did a great bit of work and we were happy with him coming into this.
“Gai was very happy.”
Goldman defeated Grand Pierro by a neck on the line, with race favourite Muramasa storming home into third place with Blake Shinn in the saddle.
Smokin’ Romans, the 2021 Pakenham Cup winner, was close up in fourth place.
