Irish jockeys dominate American Grand National
Irish jockey Barry Geraghty had to settle for second in the American Grand National at Far Hills as his brother Ross took the spoils on Nicky Henderson's former inmate Dawalan.
Riding Eshtiaal for Gordon Elliott he hit the front close home only to be worn down in the closing stages by Dawalan, having his second run in America.
Dawalan is now owned by Irv Naylor and trained by Cyril Murphy. Naylor now also owns Rawnaq, formerly trained in Ireland By Matthew Smith, and he finished close up in third on his first start for new connections.
Last year's winner Demonstrative finished last after making a bad mistake at a crucial time.
"I thought we had to beat Demonstrative," said Murphy on www.bloodhorse.com.
"If we could beat him, it was going to take a very good effort to beat (Dawalan)."
