Win for Mehman sees Harnett close gap to three Paddy Harnett kept his hopes of landing the apprentice title very much alive when partnering the Pat Murphy trained Mehman to win the Halloween Mid-Term Racing Next Week Apprentice Handicap at Dundalk. Well handicapped on the best of his form, the seven-year-old had been breaking slowly of late, often staying on after meeting trouble in running. Smartly into stride on this occasion, the 3/1f chased leader Shoot To Kill before being produced to lead over a furlong out. Keeping on strongly inside the final furlong, Mehman scored by two-and-three-quarter lengths. That win saw jockey Paddy Harnett close the gap on Sam Coen at the top of the apprentice title leaderboard to three. Pat Murphy said: "Paddy is good and he is knocking on the door of the apprentice title now. He's had a very good season. He has ridden for me a few times before. "We were hoping this lad would do things right today. He jumped better than the last day and we were able to dictate our own fractions. The pace wasn't that mad which suited and they were able to kick off the bend "It is cold up here, that would warm you up! "He's six/seven furlong and when the pace wasn't that mad, it suited us down to the ground. "To be honest, we were hoping to get a turf win into him and it just didn't pan out. He hit the crossbar a few times. "He obviously is a better horse up here, so we might keep him going for the next three or four weeks, or three or four runs maybe." (Quotes by Michael Graham)
