DAVID Egan’s British champion apprentice title win was one for the pedigree analysts.

To say the 18-year-old is a well-bred sort is an understatement. He is the son of the richly experienced jockey John Egan and former trainer Sandra Hughes, a nephew of three-time champion jockey Richard Hughes and a grandson of Dessie Hughes, Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle-winning jockey.

Egan held a decent advantage over his pursuers for most of the second half of the season and was 10 clear of nearest rival Kieran Shoemark just three weeks ago, and still three clear of him prior to evening racing at Newcastle on Friday night. However Shoemark rode a double at Newcastle to set up a grandstand finish at Catterick on Saturday.

Neither rider rode a winner on the day, leaving the totals at 53 to 52 and Egan admits he was delighted and relieved to get over the line, be it by the slimmest of margins.

"I was over the moon," the rider told us on Monday. “It was a nervy day. Two of my rides were taken out on account of the ground and Kieran had a couple of more chances. I actually rode two close seconds as well.

“It was great to get over the line in the end and I went on to ride a winner at Wolverhampton that evening, which was the icing on the cake.

“Dad has been my biggest influence. I live with him in Newmarket and we sit down to review all my races.”

In winning the apprentice championship, Egan joined an illustrious list of jockeys which included Ryan Moore and Frankie Dettori.

David Egan's highlight of the season was winning a valuable fillies handicap at Ascot on Tisbutadream

Egan moved to Newmarket when he was 16 having already gained experience on the pony racing circuit at home. He is based with the Roger Varian stable and has had great support from his guv'nor and numerous other trainers this season.

“It wasn’t something I set out to do at the start of the season. It was just taking it race by race but, by the time we got to halfway, I started thinking I could do it,” Egan explains.

Egan is set to fly to America for the winter, where he will ride out for Wesley Ward and a number of other trainers. It will be the 18-year-old’s second stint in the US and he is very much looking forward to it.

“I want to protect my claim for next season and it’s also a great opportunity to gain more experience. Mr Ward is very well-known over here, given how well he has done at Royal Ascot,” Egan said.

“I do want to look after my claim but, if there was an opportunity to get a few rides on the track, it would be hard to turn down.”

Egan has ridden 60 winners from 502 rides in the calendar year and, though missing a winner at a major festival, he has enjoyed plenty of big handicap success.

His highlight was winning on Tisbutadream in a £45,000 fillies handicap at Ascot in June. It was an excellent ride which saw his mount left in front three furlongs out and Egan had to show all of his strength to see off all challengers.

KEANE V SMULLEN

In the words of Alex Ferguson: "It’s squeaky bum time". It looked all over and now it looks like it’s back on. Colin Keane went into the weekend with a seven-win lead over Pat Smullen but left it with the margin whittled down to four.

There are eight meetings left in the Irish flat turf season which ends on Sunday week at Naas. Keane is still favourite to win the title for the first time, but is sitting less comfortably now.

The battle between the two jockeys has been an extremely welcome addition to the flat season and one of the overriding themes is the engagement of Ger Lyons in his desire to have his stable jockey crowned champion.

Last Thursday the Meath trainer took to Twitter to quash Pat Smullen and Kevin O’Ryan’s concession that the title race was over.

Later trainer Ralph Beckett replied to the above tweet alluding that Lyons was perhaps sounding like Kevin Keegan in his famous “I would love it” rant which came in response to jesting from Ferguson during the 1995/1996 Premier League season.

Was Smullen and O’Ryan’s concession an attempt at playing the same type of mind games Ferguson inflicted on rival managers heading into the closing stages of a Premier League season?

You could just imagine it, prior to the final meeting on Sunday week, Ger Lyons on At The Races, screaming at Gary O’Brien; “Listen, they’ve got to go to Naas on Sunday and get a winner, this race is still on. And I tell ya what Gary, I will love it if we beat them, love it!”

Okay, so maybe it’s not quite the exact same but it’s great to see such passion from Lyons. He made a big call to appoint Colin Keane as his stable jockey two years ago and has been richly rewarded.

Let’s hope for Lyons’s sake that he doesn’t suffer a similar fate to Keegan’s Newcastle outfit, who lost out to Manchester United that season having held a massive 13-point lead earlier in the season.