Sean Flanagan on his Australian Grand National experience Sean Flanagan shared his experience of riding in the Australian Grand National Hurdle at Sandown Park on Sunday. He rode Loft to finish fourth for his former weighroom colleague and friend Shane Jackson, who is now a successful trainer in Australia. Jackson actually won the race with Highland Blaze, who was ridden to victory by Jordan Hart. “I got back at twenty-past 12 today (Wednesday) and it was a good experience, I loved it. I finished fourth, Jackson put me on the wrong one, his other horse won it," said Flanagan. “Shane is a great friend of mine and he contacted me a couple of weeks back asking would I ride one for him in the Australian Grand National. “I rode in the 6 o’clock at Galway on Friday and got a late flight that night, rode over there on Sunday and was back this morning. “It was a fabulous track, Sandown Park, just outside Melbourne. The Flat track is on the inside and the jumps track goes off a little bit up the back straight. I suppose to explain it a bit better it’s like Limerick but the other way around. “It’s a really nice track and it was yielding ground. They use the same hurdles as we have here, EasyFix padded hurdles. “I suppose the only real difference is that they jump out of stalls over there. I wanted to drop my lad in, but he is an ex-Flat horse and actually won a Group 2 on the Flat in America. He was like a rocket out of the stalls and was handy and there was nothing much I could do about it. “It was all older Irish lads riding over there and a couple of young lads too. It was a good experience. “Jordan Hart won the race and he’s from Baltinglass and is based with Shane. He is a young lad going places and would have had a couple of rides here. He is learning away and is a good kid. “There is a couple of good young lads over there and then a couple of the older lads like Tom Ryan and William McCarthy to keep them in line. “When you go to Australia or America you kind of think it’s a bit alien, but then you walk into the weighroom it’s like walking in here, it’s the same faces just in a different place.” Additional reporting by Donal Murphy.
