Tag Archive for: Martin Brassil

Longhouse Poet primed for repeat of National service

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After two near-misses at Cheltenham last week, trainer Martin Brassil could do with a change of luck as he prepares Longhouse Poet for another run in the Randox Grand National next month.

Having his first try over the unique spruce-topped fences in last year’s renewal, he travelled strongly and was still in with a chance two out before fading to sixth under Darragh O’Keeffe.

A general 20-1 chance for the race this time, he is on an unchanged rating of 155 and is currently due to carry 4lb less than last year’s 11st for his return in the Liverpool spectacular.

The nine-year-old has had his chase mark protected by running over hurdles this term and he was quick enough to land a two-and-a-half-mile handicap at Limerick on Boxing Day.

Though he unseated JJ Slevin at the first obstacle on his return to fences in the Bobbjo Chase at Fairyhouse, he showed his well-being with victory over Roi Mage over three and a quarter miles at Down Royal last Friday.

Brassil feels that prep run will bring him on and said: “He came out of the race great and we are really looking forward to Aintree with him.

“He just did a bit too much in the race last year. He over-raced a bit.

“It was his first time there and he was very exuberant. He is such a good jumper, he was making ground over the fences and Darragh (O’Keeffe) was inclined to let him enjoy it.

“He needed to have a little quiet time at some stage in the race, to slot in behind a few. He did all the donkey work, really.”

Brassil is hopeful Slevin will be able to take the ride this time, but is anxiously awaiting the outcome of a possible totting-up suspension for the rider.

He explained: “JJ Slevin will ride hopefully. He is not sure yet because he got an eight-day ban for An Epic Song and he got three the other day for something else.

“So he is having a look at that and hasn’t yet come back to me to tell me what’s the story. I haven’t got anyone else in mind, though.”

Though hopeful of another big run, dangers abound and Brassil, who won the National with Numbersixvalverde 17 years ago, thinks there are some well-handicapped horses in opposition.

He added: “You can never be confident in the National. The horse who beat Fastorslow at Cheltenham (Corach Rambler) seems to be fired in on his form and has no weight.

“Roi Mage has a nice weight too and that grey horse of Gavin Cromwell’s (Vanillier), he is nicely-in, too – he’s a nice staying type of horse.”

Martin Brassil hoping for another big Aintree run
Martin Brassil hoping for another big Aintree run (Julien Behal/PA)

For the Kildare handler it was a case of so near but yet so far at Cheltenham, with Fastorslow beaten a neck in the Ultima and An Epic Song downed by Langer Dan in the Coral Cup, a head separating the pair.

“Even if one of them won it would have been great,” said Brassil. “It was a great meeting, but I felt a bit sorry for Fastorslow, as the winner got the ride of the meeting, I’d say.

“It happened right for that horse in particular, but if we’d have got to the front a bit sooner, we might have beaten him.

“He’s come home great from it and we are very happy with him.

“There are no plans for Aintree, but Punchestown maybe. There will be something for him anyway, although I haven’t looked at it yet.”

An Epic Song, who was equipped with cheekpieces for the first time, may be held back for a novice chasing campaign next season, should the ground firm up.

Brassil added: “We were thrilled with his run, but I think the winner was laid out for the race, because he had a bit of bad luck the last couple of years. He ran into a machine the first time (in Galopin Des Champs) and then he was brought down the following year. I’d say they had the plan for that.

“The cheekpieces seemed to work, but the ground on the slow side helped him more than anything, He is very ground dependent.

“We have to wait and see what the ground is, but he will probably go chasing in the autumn.”

Longhouse Poet tunes up for National with Down Royal victory

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Longhouse Poet advertised his Randox Grand National claims with victory at Down Royal on Friday.

Martin Brassil’s charge was one of three Aintree entries, along with Roi Mage and Farclas, to line up in the Bluegrass Stamm 30 Chase over three and a quarter miles.

Longhouse Poet was sent off the 7-4 favourite in the hands of JJ Slevin, with Farclas next best at 7-2, but the latter was pulled up at an early stage.

The market leader was prominent throughout and took it up with three to jump before Roi Mage headed him approaching the last.

However, Longhouse Poet put in a better leap at the final obstacle, allowing him to pull a length and a quarter clear at the line.

Brassil – who won the National in 2006 with Numbersixvalverde – said, “He needed to do that. JJ had a bit of a mishap with him in Fairyhouse in the Bobbyjo (unseated the first fence), so we wanted to get them to gel a bit more. It would be (important) when you are going around there (Aintree).

“He jumped great and handles the ground and it was lovely to see. He was (value for the winning margin), you would never know how much you have left with him as he just only does enough. When something comes to him, he stretches them a little bit again.”

Longhouse Poet finished sixth in last year’s National and Brassil is hoping for an improved effort this time.

He added: “He did (run a cracker for a long way in the Grand National). He probably over-raced himself, he was very fresh on the day. That’s why I wanted to get a race closer to the National into him, so he wouldn’t be too buzzed up.

“Darragh (O’Keeffe) gave him a great ride (in the Grand National), he had a fantastic round of jumping and all roads lead back there now.”

Longhouse Poet is a best-priced 20-1 with Paddy Power for the National, with Tuesday’s Cheltenham winner Corach Rambler the general 7-1 favourite.

Longhouse Poet booked for National prep at Down Royal

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Martin Brassil will send Longhouse Poet to Down Royal next Friday for his Grand National prep run.

The nine-year-old was a well-supported sixth behind Noble Yeats in the Aintree marathon last year and is currently a general 16-1 chance for the four-and-a-quarter-mile spectacular on April 15.

He reverted to hurdles on his first three runs this season, including when scoring at Limerick on Boxing Day.

However, he unseated JJ Slevin at the first on his return to fences in the Bobbyjo Chase at Fairyhouse last month.

Brassil, who enoyed Grand National success with Numbersixvalverde in 2006, said: “He will probably run in a three-and-three-quarter-mile chase at Down Royal on St Patrick’s Day. That will be his last run before Aintree. I’ve been happy with him.

“I’m reasonably happy with his National weight at 154. As long as the weights don’t go up, he has a grand racing weight.

“He ran a nice race last year, but probably over-raced a bit. He probably got a bit exuberant. You have to remember it is a long way round there twice.”

Fastorslow (right) was touched off by Commander Of Fleet in the Coral Cup last year
Fastorslow (right) was touched off by Commander Of Fleet in the Coral Cup last year (David Davies/PA)

The Kildare handler is still no nearer to deciding which race Fastorslow, who is similarly owned by Sean and Bernardine Mulryan, will contest at Cheltenham next week.

The seven-year-old, who was runner-up in the Coral Cup at the Festival last March, holds entries in both the Ultima Handicap Chase on Tuesday and the Magners Plate Handicap Chase on Thursday.

Fastorslow has run just twice over fences in Ireland, both coming in Grade One company this season.

He finished fifth of six to Galopin Des Champs in the John Durkan Memorial at Punchestown and last of five to Gentlemen De Mee in the Dublin Chase at Leopardstown.

Brassil lamented the lack of options for Fastorslow, who won his only other chase outing when scoring for Arnaud Chaille-Chaille at Auteuil in September 2019.

“The conditions of a lot of the races over here excluded him from having a run, because he won in 2019 and the conditions said you couldn’t have won before May 2021, and that is why I had to run him in a couple of Grade Ones,” he said.

“They have given him plenty of weight, too, especially for a horse who hasn’t won a hurdle race since he was three.

“He won a chase when he was three – now he’s seven and rated 150 over fences and 147 over hurdles.

“At the moment we will go to the Ultima, but we will confirm him for the Plate as well. The weights have already gone up 4lb in the Ultima, but we’ll wait and see.”

He added: “He is hugely inexperienced, even though he does jump very well and we wouldn’t have any worries about that. At the same time, it is a big ask. If he has a bit of class, it will have to come out.”

Jockey Niall Madden (left) and Martin Brassil with 2006 Grand National winner Numbersixvalverde
Jockey Niall Madden (left) and Martin Brassil with 2006 Grand National winner Numbersixvalverde (Niall Carson/PA)

Brassil will run An Epic Song in either the Coral Cup or the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Hurdle next week, although he would welcome slower conditions for the six-year-old.

“He would be very much ground dependent,” Brassil added. “He would want a real nasty turn of weather.

“I confirmed him for the Coral Cup. If he doesn’t make the cut there, he’ll go in the Martin Pipe.

“He’d want a lot of rain and about a foot of snow to melt, like at the old-fashioned Cheltenham – the Desert Orchid days or days of The Thinker.”

Longhouse Poet could make Galmoy stop on National trail

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Longhouse Poet could run in the John Mulhern Galmoy Hurdle as Martin Brassil plots a route back to the Randox Grand National on April 15.

The nine-year-old was pulled up on his reappearance at Punchestown in November, but returned to form in style at Christmas, keeping on well to land the O’Kelly Brothers Demolition Hurdle at Limerick.

Now Brassil looks poised to keep his charge over hurdles for his next outing and will head to Gowran Park on January 26 for the Grade Two contest over three miles.

The Galmoy Hurdle is the support act to the Thyestes Chase and it is somewhat fitting that Longhouse Poet will be back at Gowran exactly 12 months on from announcing himself as a Grand National contender when landing the feature handicap chase.

Subsequently sent off 12-1 for the Aintree showpiece in 2022, the son of Yeats took well to unique challenge of the National course and was still in the running, disputing the lead, at the second-last before falling away late on to eventually finish sixth.

And Brassil, who won the Grand National with Numbersixvalverde in 2006, is eyeing up another crack at the Liverpool marathon with his stable star in the spring.

“I’ll probably run him in the Galmoy Hurdle on January 26,” said Brassil.

“If everything is going well, we hope to get him back there (Aintree). If you have a horse with the profile of one of those National horses, it seems the obvious thing to do.

“He might have a run over fences before the National, but it will probably be the Galmoy Hurdle next.”

Brassil also provided an update on Panda Boy, who was narrowly denied in the competitive Paddy Power Chase at Leopardstown on December 27.

Panda Boy, here winning over hurdles at Leopardstown, will return to the Dublin track in February for a run over fences
Panda Boy, here winning over hurdles at Leopardstown, will return to the Dublin track in February for a run over fences (Donall Farmer/PA)

Having shown a real liking for the Dublin track, a return for the Leopardstown Handicap Chase during the Dublin Racing Festival on February 5 appears on the cards.

“We might head back for the Leopardstown Handicap Chase there at the Dublin Racing Festival,” continued Brassil. “He’s done well there every time he has run there.”

On whether Panda Boy could also progress into an Aintree candidate in the future, the Kildare-based handler added: “There will be a few more fences to jump, but you would be hopeful he might be at some stage.”