Butler strikes for visiting Irish in Oz Shane Butler, riding locally-trained Trenchtown, took the first leg of this year’s Irish– Australian Jump Jockeys series at Balaclava today. He beat favourite Biancrazy by a half-length with Irish team-mates Niki O’Shea and Donal MacAuley third and fourth. The other Irish team member Eddie O’Connell had to sit it out, along with top Melbourne rider Steve Pateman as their mounts were scratched. Butler was before the Stewards after the race for celebrating his win as they passed the winning post. Such “acknowledging the crowd” is only permitted in feature races and Group races but the Irish rider escaped censure after it transpired that the Stewards didn’t mention such behaviour at a previous briefing to the visitors. Neither apparently did the two South-Australian based members of the Irish team. But Butler took a caution from the Stewards regarding his whip use, yet had made a good impression and there was no problem from that perspective. This evening the team and manager Sean Lynch hosted a dinner for their Australian hosts on behalf of the Turf Club and HRI.
