Absolutely no stopping Kiltegan’s Shane Jackson

THERE seems to be no stopping Kiltegan jockey Shane Jackson at the moment as he cruised to the Australian Steeplechase crown in Sandown on Sunday last on board Bit Of A Lad.

Jackson claimed the Grand Annual some weeks back in Warnambool but has not rested on his laurels and was in superb form in this race that has seen him earn high praise from his trainer Ciaron Maher.

‘Busy weekend but you don’t mind when you get those results. It was a great weekend,’ said Shane when speaking on Australia’s Racing Pulse programme after the race.

It was a runaway success for ‘Bit Of A Lad’ as he stormed home in the last 300 as he flew away from all comers. Shane says he was confident from far out of the potential and that’s why he went for the line from so far out.

‘I was feeling confident. It was a very good training performance as well. I knew how fit he was and that he could stay. I was pretty confident from a long way out. That’s why I took it up a bit further from home than I normally would,’ he added.

The Australian Steeplechase is worth €100,000 and six-year-old Bit Of A Lad charged home eight lenghts clear of Shamal in second and Underground-fighter in third.

Trainer Ciaron Maher said it was Jackson’s decisiveness that was key to the victory.

‘He (Bit Of A Lad) can be slow into gear and you can see early on in the race he was back, but he made that decision to go forward early - there didn’t look to be a lot of pace in the race - and I was thinking that was what the winning move was,’ said Maher.

The victory on A Bit Of A Lad continues a stellar season for Kiltegan’s Jackson, who grabbed the headlines in Australia and back here in Ireland when storming to victory in the Grand Annual Steeplechase aboard Bit Of A Lad’s stablemate, Ablaze, on May 5.