Aussie protests could end challenge

Meath jockeys Andrew Lynch and Robbie Colgan were honoured at a function in Ashbourne on Saturday night. The duo received their certificates from the South Australia Jockey Club following their successful trip with the Irish team to the southerm hemisphere last August at a function hosted by Tim Tang, the proprietor of popular local restaurant Eatzen. Cheques were also handed over as the Meath duo shared their winnings with the other two members of the team, Stephen Gray from Dundalk and Wexford man Sean Flanagan. The annual trip to Australia is now approaching the quarter of a century mark and former national hunt jockey Sean Lynch manages the Irish team annually. Lynch is enthusiastically looking forward to the 2010 trip next August, but it could be the last trip due to a decision last month by the authorities in Victoria, one of the states that hosts jump racing. There is mounting pressure in Australia to ban jump racing due to a high number of fatalities which involved horses over the last two years. South Australia and Victoria are the only two Australian states that still have national hunt racing and if the sport is banned in Victoria, it may also be banned in South Australia where the Irish were in action this year at Morpehtville. This year the Irish quartet took on their Australian counterparts in the annual series of races and after the opening day, the teams were tied (18-18) on points. The Irish did not have any winners, but placed efforts kept them in contention. However, the luck changed at Morphetville for Irish Day where Andrew Lynch, son of the manager, was on the mark when he scored with Intacto. The Ashbourne rider beat Flanagan's mount Infusion with Colgan in third place on Wheel The Lead. That was sufficient to give the Irish team the edge and they took the title, but it was close-run contest and there was only a point it at the end. Una Lynch made the presentations on Saturday night on behalf of South Australia Jockey Club official Chris Biggs. Louth man Gray was a late replacement for Niall Madden who had to cry-off the team at the last moment due to injury. "It was a great experience and it was always one of my ambitions to get selected for the team and make the trip to Australia," stated Gray who only days before the tip rode the winner of the Galway Hurdle, his biggest success to date. "Winning the Galway Hurdle with Bahrain Storm for Pat Flynn was a great boost, you need all the help you can get in this game and a big winner at Galway is hard to beat. "Racing in Australia is different and there were protests at the meetings where we were in action," he added in reference to the pressure which the lobby groups opposed to jump racing are exerting on the authorities. Summerhill man Colgan enjoyed the experience also and outlined that the racing is completely different to what he has experienced in Ireland. "There are steel hurdles and steel rails for starters, that's not what we have here and the horses were a bit slower," he explained. "The hospitality was first class and we were treated very well, the Australian jockeys were very helpful to us also," he added. Andrew Lynch was delighted with the trip and was proud to represent his country. "It was an honour to represent Ireland, I was lucky as it was my second trip," stated the Ashbourne jockey who is enjoying a fine season and was on the mark at Punchestown on Sunday for Wilkinstown, Navan trainer Liam McAteer.