WINS in this year's Warrnambool's Grand Annual Steeplechase and the Grand National Hurdle have the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained Ablaze chasing a special part of jumps history in the $350,000 Grand National Steeplechase at Ballarat on Sunday.
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No horse has ever won the big three jump features in one year.
Warrnambool-based jumps jockey Shane Jackson, who has ridden Ablaze to his Grand Annual Steeplechase and Grand National Hurdle victories, hopes the nine-year-old will make a clean sweep of the features.
"He's in sensational form. He's a super stayer and a clever jumper," Jackson said.
"He's the one to beat. My biggest concern is the weight.
"I've got no worries about running the 4500 metres on the heavy track, my only concern is the weight, but he deserves it considering his record of five wins from five starts in jumps races.
"Full credit to the Maher-Eustace stable and their staff at Ballarat for keeping Ablaze up to scratch. It's been an incredible training effort by the team."
The team is considering taking Ablaze to Japan for next year's Nakayama Grand Jump in April and the 33-year-old Irish born jumps jockey, who moved to Warrnambool with his family eight years ago, is keen to go along for the ride.
"It would be wonderful if Ablaze made the trip to Japan to represent Australia but there's a lot of water to go under the bridge," he said.
"I'll be putting my hand up but we've got to get over Sunday's big race before we start worrying about making overseas trips."
