Jockey Beau Mertens emulated the deeds of his late father Peter in claiming the Listed $300,000 Sportsbet Pakenham Cup aboard the brave front-runner Goldman.

The $9 TABtouch elect leapt brilliantly from the gates and, as is so often the case with Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained runners, immediately pressed forward to find the front.

Mertens determined there would be no loafing and with the attentions of Smokin’ Romans ($3.90) to his outside, the two ensured an honest tempo throughout.

By the 600m mark, Mertens clicked up the leader and soon slipped more than a length in front of Smokin’ Romans, with Grand Pierro ($17) appearing down the centre.

With 200m to go, Grand Pierro threatened to poke his nose in front, but Goldman fought back in determined style.

Inside the last 100m, Goldman battled manfully to recapture a clear lead and scored by a long head, with favourite Muramasa ($3.20) closing powerfully into third a further long neck away.

Peter Mertens, a seven-time Group 1-winning jockey, took the 2002 and 2004 Pakenham Cups across a successful career before his passing in 2023 to pancreatic cancer.

Son Beau prides himself on slowly building a resume to rival that of his father.

“It’s unbelievable many years later to get the job done. It’s always good picking ff races that dad won and when he was still with us, we used to judge if he’d won one or I’d won one,” Mertens said.

“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.

“I was always confident he was going to hold because Grand Pierro came up beside me and really tested him, but he really dug deep. He was strong and when I quickened up in the straight after I’d 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.

“We spoke to Gai this morning and basically the only instruction was ‘give it a Gai Waterhouse ride’.

“It’s pretty simple when she wants that done and she presented the horse in great order for me to do so.

“In typical Waterhouse fashion, they keep running.”