Anything Craig can do, Beau can do too.
Well, almost, as the battle between the master and the apprentice for the jockeys title continues to heat up.
And the big winners, apart from the riders themselves, are the punters.
Anyone backing the mounts of Beau Mertens, the apprentice who arrived at Moonee Valley on Saturday with a two-winner lead (59 to 57) in the jockeys title, and those of his nearest pursuer, Craig Williams, would have returned a handsome profit.
Both men, teenager Mertens and Williams, who turned 40 last week, were riding at the peak of their powers and between them booted home the first five winners.
Williams put the first score on the board when he got home on $4.80 chance Wanted Diva for training combination David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig in the opening event in which Mertens did not have a mount.
The youngster hit back straight away in the second heat when he piloted the Matt Ellerton/Simon Zahra-trained Whistle Baby ($6) to victory, the mare having returned to training after failing to get in foal to young stallion Vancouver. Williams was unplaced on Majestic Lass.
Williams made it 2-1 for the afternoon next up when he scored on the Robert Smerdon-trained Ability, who was well backed to start at $5. Mertens' mount, Dam Ready, was scratched.
Ability was returning from a long spell after he had an operation for bone chips and was gelded, and Smerdon has high hopes that the son of Reward For Effort, whom he described as a "fast run-on sprinter" will go on to better things.
The four-year-old still carries the colours of the late Phil Sly, one of Smerdon's long-time patrons and a great supporter of Victorian racing.
Smerdon explained that Ability was a horse that Sly was very fond of before he died and it was one that his family decided to continue racing in his colours and with his name in the racebook.
The win reduced Mertens' lead in the championship to one, but by race four he had restored his two-winner advantage, riding patiently before joining in late to get $4.40 chance Greviste home for the Warrnambool-based Mitchell Freedman team.
The young trainer was delighted to get a winner in town, especially as he was still limping after sustaining a footy injury earlier in the year. The 28-year-old was hurt after lining up for local league team Old Collegians in a round-one encounter against Warriors.
"I was in the firsts, I don't know how long I would have hung around there for though. The wife said she would walk out the door if I played again," Freedman joked.
"One of my other owners [Tim Whitehead] is a knee surgeon, he's done a terrific job looking after me."
There was another twist in this particular tale, however, as Williams grabbed his third winner of the day – and the fifth consecutive scorer for the duo – when he somehow cajoled rank outsider Magic Consol, for Western Districts trainer Paul Preusker, to get his head in front in the fifth race at odds of $21.
Given his form – he had finished last of 14, then last of 15 in his two previous starts – it might have been surprising that Magic Consol was not only that short but that the trainer could get a jockey of Williams' stature to ride him.
But when a jockey is battling for the title and the choice is between a seat in the stand or a seat on a chance in a race, however remote, he will invariably take it. Often the top men can achieve surprising results.
There is still plenty of mileage in this particular title race, as the season does not end until the final metropolitan meeting in July. Mertens' lead is now down to one – 61-60 – but his 1.5-kilogram allowance will give him a considerable boost as the tracks soften in June and July.
Williams will be riding in Hong Kong on Sunday before returning home at the start of the week.
Mertens, who will be staying in Melbourne for the foreseeable future, has a chance to stretch his narrow advantage next Saturday as the defending champion will be travelling to Brisbane for a series of big-race rides on Queensland Derby day, where he will take the mount on the Hayes stable's Derryn in the Stradbroke Handicap.