Smart Album Image Order

I have a large Lightroom Smart Album created from a Collection for which I would like to create a custom order of the images. The image order cannot be manually changed (other than selecting predefined sequences like capture time, filename, etc.) in the Lightroom Collection or in the TTG Smart Album. In Backlight I can drag images into a new order and save the sequence, but as soon as I republish from Lightroom the sequence is reverting to that which is in the Lightroom Collection. Am I missing a trick here?

Also, when moving an image in Backlight, I am only able to move it to another position on the screen which is currently displayed, 4 or 5 rows at a time, and then I have to let go of it and scroll the display to show more rows. Is there an easier way to change the sequence of images greater distances in the album via Backlight?

No, Lightroom still has ultimate control over albums created in Lightroom. If Lightroom won’t allow a custom order in smart collections or smart album then you’re stuck with Lightroom’s limits.

It though I could hand off control of the album to Backlight in the album’s Advanced Settings (in Backlight) and get it to work. Sort of what was discussed here.
I though that I’d still be able to add images to the album from Lightroom, but the order would remain controlled by Backlight.
I just tested that out and it didn’t work. Adding a new image from Lightroom Publisher to a smart album that has been decoupled from Lightroom will rearrange the images into the Lightroom smart album order.

I’m guessing that this is going to be a Lightroom limitation, but maybe Ben has some other ideas on it.