Kiltegan’s Shane wins big race in Australia
Kiltegan’s Jackson finally wins Grand Steeplechase
KILTEGAN jockey Shane Jackson enjoyed the biggest win of his career in Australia yesterday (Tuesday) where racing continues behind closed doors.
The 33-year-old, who moved from Ireland in 2012, was the leading National Hunt rider in Australia last year but until now the Grand Annual Steeplechase at his local track of Warrnambool had been the one that got away.
Jackson, a former rider with Tinahely trainer Philip Rothwell, rode the 11/8 favourite Ablaze, trained by Ciaron Maher and David Eustace in the A$315,000 race and the pair stormed home by an easy six lengths.
‘It was a great thrill to win the race that I’ve wanted to win since I moved over here. It’s the big one that I’ve earmarked as the one I wouldn’t be happy if I didn’t win it. What a family I have at home, they’re the best supporters in the world and to see the emotion and the thrill that they get out of it more than I do, I feel a very lucky person,’ said Shane when interviewed on Australia’s Racing.com.
‘There was a little bit of hustle and bustle early on like there always is and I was just focused on getting the horse into a rhythm and getting him enjoying himself and switched off, which he was. But when I was going back up the hill, I didn’t want to make ground because you don’t want to make ground up a hill and use up energy, but he was jumping up out of my hands and making up ground over his fences and I was confident a long way from home that I was going to be very hard to beat unless something out of the ordinary happened and then when we got back on the course proper it felt like he grew legs and he came into my hands. He was super, and he galloped all the way to the line and he’s been trained magnificently,’ added Shane.
When asked about plans to celebrate the huge win in a race likened to the Aintree Grand National in England, Shane Jackson had a classic reply.
‘Quiet. I have a bottle of Clonmel Champagne they call it. It’s Magners cider. I won’t celebrate too hard. With the Lyndsay Smith team I think we have eight runners there (Warrnambool) tomorrow and a couple of key chances so I’ll be there for the day tomorrow,’ he said.
Back at home in Kiltegan, the Jackson family were awake all night watching the excitement build and the race unfold. Shane’s father Colin, who manages Super Valu in Baltinglass, said that this was a huge race for his son to win and that this was a career he was heading for from a very early age.
‘From the time he was a young lad,’ said Colin, ‘started pony clubbing, then won a few point-topoints, would have started with Flood and then with Philip Rothwell and would have ridden for many trainers and had a good few winners. He won the Conditional Jockey Championship and got to go on a trip to Australia. Four of them went, Shane, Nina Carbery, Katie Walsh and Alain Cawley and he rode a few horses over there and he kept the connections and when the recession hit over here and racing got quiet, he went over and he’s got on very well.
‘He’s married over there now to Lauren, from Antrim, and they have two boys, Joe and Bobby,’ said proud dad, Colin.
Shane is the only son of Colin and Geraldine Jackson and has one sister, Amy. He went to school in Kiltegan before going to Scoil Chonglais in Baltinglass.
Shane had eight runs at the Warnambool track on Tuesday and finished with two wins, three second places and two thirds on a magical day for the Kiltegan ace.
Ablaze also won the prestigious Jericho Cup over three miles on the flat at the same course in January when ridden by another Irish rider Johnny Allen.
Ciaron Maher for whom this was a record-equaling fifth win in the Grand Annual Steeplechase said of Jackson: ‘He works hard at it, Shane. He’s been really wanting to tick this one off.
‘Phenomenal ride. That horse needed a brilliant ride to get him there because he was an inexperienced horse.’
Ablaze will now be aimed at the Australian Grand National which Maher famously teamed up with Ruby Walsh to win 2015 with Bashboy.