THE Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained Ablaze has set the local jumping world on fire winning the Grand National Hurdle at Sandown on Saturday and setting himself for the National double at Ballarat in a week’s time.

A winner in May of the Grand Annual Steeplechase at just his second go at the big obstacles, Maher had high praise for the Raise The Flag nine-year-old. “I’ve never won a Grand National Hurdle so it’s a big thrill. It’s a great job by the team and a fantastic ride by Shane Jackson. He could potentially be the best I’ve had,” he said.

“There’s just something about this horse – he’s very calculated, he’s quite smart and he obviously stays very well. He’s still relatively inexperienced but maybe after another season here, there’s a race in Japan called the Nakayama Grand Jump that Eric Musgrove and Brett Scott won three times.”

Brought to Australia from New Zealand in 2019, Ablaze has won all five of his jumps starts, three hurdles and two steeples.

Versatile

“These horses come along once in a lifetime and I’m very lucky to have thrown my leg across him,” said Shane Jackson. “He’s so versatile. He’s won the longest flat race in Australia (Jericho Cup), he’s won the longest steeplechase in Australia and now the longest distance hurdle race in Australia. He loves his jumps and you can ride him to what anyway you think the race will suit, he’s just a pleasure to ride.

“He’s adaptable, coming back from steeplechase fences, I think the third flight he got in under and rapped a little bit but other than that he was super quick over his hurdles and when the pressure came on he really stuck the head out and fought.”

Jackson was also asked what he thought Ablaze’s Grand National Steeple prospects were. “You never say never, but this fella just keeps fronting up,” he said. “The bigger the task you set him the more he provides, so I think he’ll be very hard to beat in Ballarat.”

Slowpoke too strong

In the Crisp Steeple, Slowpoke Rodriguez again proved too strong with Steven Pateman up for Patrick Payne making it back-to-back Steeple wins after his Mosstropper victory. He now looks set to clash with Ablaze at Ballarat where a wetter surface will most likely be in play.

ON the opening day of the new season Tom Sherry won his first city race, saluting on the Snitzel mare Fulmina for his boss Mark Newnham over 1,800 metres at Randwick.

“Young Tom, he’s been under a little bit of pressure but he produced an absolute 10-out-of-10 ride there and she was good enough to do the rest for him,” said Newnham of the expectation on Sherry to make the successful transition to the metropolitan ranks.

“Myself and Wayne Harris (Sherry’s manager) are trying to make these blokes good jockeys, not just good apprentices,” added Newnham.

“There’s a big difference. That’s why they have a three-tier system (in New South Wales) so they can use it to their advantage and by the time they get to town they have that experience. You see a lot of kids fall by the wayside because they’re riding in town too soon and they chew up the winners. He’s going to be riding in town regularly and he’s got 100 winners next to his name. Now is the time to do it.”

Stepping up as the Newnham stable’s main claiming apprentice, with Robbie Dolan having outridden his, Sherry was delighted.

“This filly has been tremendous, that’s my third win on her now and she hasn’t let me down,” he said before highlighting his support at home in Ireland.

“I’m sure they would be up and into a bottle of champagne.

“The support through last season has been tremendous and hopefully we can go on with it now. I’m ready to take on the world.”

Finnegan finds his winning Tone

FROM Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, Francis Finnegan looks to have an exciting prospect for next season’s feature races after Wolfe Tone made it two-from-two over hurdles in the opener on Grand National Hurdle day at Sandown.

A six-year-old by a son of Montjeu – Mettre En Jeu – Wolfe Tone races in the same colours as J.P. McManus and boasts in his ownership Brian Jenkins and Adrian Burr, trainer and part-owners of 1998 Melbourne Cup winner Jezabeel. The 36-year-old Finnegan, a Group 1-winning trainer with Eileen Dubh in 2009, and his wife Samantha prepared Wolfe Tone to run third in the 2018 VRC St Leger but the jumps look his game.

Clean and neat, he won his maiden by 12 lengths before starting as favourite and defeating Instigator with Arron Lynch in the saddle.

Second wave of virus hits Melbourne, forces lockdown

THE Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews sent metropolitan Melbourne into a strict six-week Stage 4 lockdown on Sunday as Covid-19 positives above 500 were recorded in four of the previous seven days.

The warned-of second wave is being driven by community transmission, sending a shiver through race clubs looking for a Spring Carnival-led recovery.

Fears that racing would be suspended were allayed as the industry received Government reassurance.

“We have today been advised by the Victorian Government that racing and training can continue under the strict biosecurity protocols that have safely guided our industry throughout the past four and a half months without a Covid-19 case,” said Racing Victoria chief executive Giles Thompson.

For the first time in 30 years, Godolphin will not be part of Melbourne’s Spring Carnival. “Both Saeed (bin Surooor) and Charlie (Appleby) have advised that they won’t be coming to Melbourne this year,” said Racing Victoria general manager Paul Bloodworth.