Gutsy Goldman's Cup success
Goldman has held off his rivals for a brave win in the Listed $300,000 Pakenham Cup third-up, fighting hard under Beau Mertens to score third-up on Saturday.
The son of Verdi put on a vintage Waterhouse-Bott staying performance, setting a solid clip throughout the 2500 metres (although nothing on stablemate Major Beel’s effort in the same race earlier this year).
Things looked to have gone awry when Goldman ($9) was tackled and possibly headed by Grand Pierro ($20) in the straight, but the Darby Syndications-owned runner kicked again and pulled clear by a neck on the line.
Muramasa ($3.30) made the best ground from last, while Smokin Romans ($4.20) battled on well after tracking the speed, but all honours were with the winner.
“I spoke to Gai this morning, and the only instructions were to give it a Gai Waterhouse ride – it’s pretty simple when she wants that to happen,” Mertens said post-race.
“Probably in the last 100m (Goldman was headed)… Grand Pierro came up alongside and really tested him, but my bloke dug deep and was strong.”
The win also held some personal significance to the in-form hoop, who’s late seven-time Group 1 winning father Peter won the same race several times on the old Pakenham course.
“It’s unbelievable. Many years later, (both)we got the job done, it’s always good picking off races that Dad won,” he said.
“When he was still with us, when I’d get winners, I used to joke and see if he’d have won where I’d got won, and most of the time he’d have one up on me.
“So it’s always good to tick off some races in which he had great success.”
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