Irish team announced Australia-Bound Irish Team Announced at the Galway Festival The 2013 Irish National Hunt Jockeys’ Team to represent Ireland against Australia was announced today. Ireland will be represented in Australia by Shane Butler, Eddie O’Connell, Niki O’Shea and Donal McCauley in September. In a change to the usual format, only two Irish-based jockeys will be flying out with manager Sean Lynch - Shane Butler and Eddie O’Connell. They will be joined by Donal McCauley and Niki O’Shea, two Australian-based Irish riders who have been co-opted onto the Irish team. This will be the 38th clash between Australian and Irish teams of jump jockeys and the 27th consecutive year that an Irish team has been invited to Australia to participate. Team Ireland claimed the Irish v Australian Jumps Jockeys Challenge for a 23rd time at Morphettville last September and the score in the series stands at 23 wins for Ireland and 13 for the Australians with one drawn series. The last time that an Australian team came to Ireland was in 2007 when the visitors proved successful. Shane Butler earned his place on the team by winning the J P McManus-supported Martinstown Opportunity Series while Eddie O’Connell is a late substitute for Mark Enright, side-lined with crushed vertebrae after a fall at Kilbeggan in mid-July. Brian Kavanagh, Chief Executive of Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) said: “I’d like to wish Shane, Eddie, Niki and Donal the very best of luck in Australia this September. They will have the privilege of joining the honourable list of jockeys who have represented Ireland in the past. HRI wish them every success and we know that they will be excellent ambassadors for Irish racing while they are in Australia.” The series will consist of two races at Balaklava and Morphettville on the 4th and 7thof September. The invitation race on the first day is the curtain-raiser to the famous Balaklava Cup which attracts a 60,000 attendance. Morphettville is the Adelaide city track and this meeting hosts Irish Day, which attracts a large Irish contingent and is the second-largest raceday in the city annually.
