"THIRTEEN was always a really lucky number for me,” says Martin Brassil, just a few days after Longhouse Poet stamped himself as a staying chaser of serious ability when providing the affable trainer with his second Goffs Thyestes Chase triumph at Gowran Park last Thursday week.

“I rode plenty of winners that were No 13, I had a few back the years. It never frightened me anyway.”

Brassil’s previous victory in the Thyestes came with Numbersixvalverde in 2005, a teenage Niall ‘Slippers’ Madden becoming the first amateur jockey to claim the spoils. The horse - named after the address of owner Bernard Carroll’s residence in the Algarve - was No 13 on the card that day.

The latest star of the Beech Park yard in Dunmurray, on the edge of the Curragh and Kildare town, may well adopt a similar route from this juncture, in a bid to add even greater glory in terms of Grand National success on both sides of the pond.

There is a possibility that he will skip the Irish National portion of the educational process that Numbersix undertook initially when landing the odds at Fairyhouse a couple of months later, and take in Aintree instead, where Carroll’s pride and joy prevailed under Madden in 2006. Decisions to be made but no need to make them just yet.

In winning last week, Longhouse Poet provided Brassil with a best-ever tally for a season of 13 winners, with a quarter of the campaign still remaining.

This comes, after a tremendous run that has his representatives scoring at a 22% strike rate.

Glenquin Castle provided seven of those wins, exemplifying the brilliance of his conditioner in that while he began with a good mark and had that lovely tendency by virtue of his run style and Mark Walsh’s genius in the saddle to just get his head in front – the seven triumphs came with an aggregate winning margin of six lengths and a nose – the J.P. McManus-owned gelding combined his run over fences and hurdles, was placed shrewdly and kept bouncing out fresh and hungry for action.

An Epic Song, Party Boy, Choice Of Words, A Different World and Abraham were the other successful horses so far, among a select team of around 20 riding out. With a few breakers on the go too, Brassil is happy with the scale of the operation.

“I like it, I do yeah. I would never want any more than 30 horses. There’s always room for a nice horse or two to come. But I wouldn’t be into numbers. It would wreck my head.”

There had been a prospect of his chief patrons, Sean and Bernardine Mulryan, renovating a nearby yard and putting him up in it but the costs were prohibitive and so it never materialised. It comes as no surprise that seemingly unflappable Clare man was unbothered.

Very lucky

“The yard I’m in is very lucky. I have trained two Thyestes Chase winners out of this yard and an Irish National winner and an Aintree National winner and a Cheltenham winner.”

There was also the likes of Double Seven, who had a Munster National among his nine victories. Eight-time graded winner Nickname provided the most unusual challenge of being an entire, and would go on to sire Cyrname, Yala Enki and Frodon.

The latter is a remarkable 18-time victor – King George, Ryanair and Down Royal Champion Chase included at the elite level – who contests the Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup on today’s first leg of the Dublin Racing Festival, at the Leopardstown track his sire secured his sole Grade 1 in facile fashion on his beloved heavy ground (pre-global warming and over-effective drainage work) in the 2006 Christmas Festival.

It’s a tremendous return for Brassil from the type of numbers he operates at.

“Ah it is. But it’s like everything else, you won’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, you have to have the material to work with, then you have a chance.

And that is the secret of his new PB. That Longhouse Poet broke his record came as no surprise, but it is the Thyestes Chase.

“When you go into those races, in what is a very competitive looking race, you’re happy when your horse is competitive and runs well.

“I suppose looking at it, he really had the run of the race. He had a good start and he was out of trouble. And he was able to keep hanging onto him which was always going to help because he finished the race well.”

Triumphant jockey, Darragh O’Keeffe reported afterwards that the eight-year-old son of Yeats was always travelling easily and almost lazily, which is a benefit when it comes to conserving energy as he barely touched a twig. It is a style that Brassil asserts makes him a very straightforward conveyance.

The trainer was expecting a bold run but had been slightly disappointed by the comeback effort in Limerick over Christmas, even though it was his charge’s first outing in a year, from when he took the scalp of Run Wild Fred in a beginners’ chase at Punchestown on New Year’s Eve 2020, a bad cut bringing his season to an end.

“I was a bit, but I found out last Thursday (week) that he doesn’t need the ground as heavy as I thought. And I really did think he wanted it really heavy… I was always of the opinion because he has handled heavy ground so well and he won his maiden hurdle and his beginners’ chase on it, that he needed it to take the sting out of the opposition.

“He probably surprised me how his pace improved on the better ground at Gowran Park. Like, the ground was dead but it wasn’t deep. That is probably a good thing in a way.”

It certainly is given the near unprecedented dry winter.

Outside of the glory of winning for himself, the Mulryans and the staff in the yard, it was a fantastic occasion to be a part of, with Gowran humming with a sense of a public anxious to start living again.

Atmosphere

“It was great to feel the atmosphere of the place and there were some really good races there. The three-mile hurdle was a great race as well. Overall it was a lovely day.

“It was lovely to see so many people there enjoying themselves. Everyone was in right order and it was great to see that… hopefully this weekend again in Leopardstown you’ll see something similar.”

Comparisons with Numbersixvalverde are inevitable. Longhouse Poet was better over hurdles, having been placed in two Grade 1s as a novice. He had previously claimed Monkfish’s scalp on his only bumper run.

Numbersix was an outstanding jumper, benefiting from being sent down to Enda Bolger and being schooled by John Thomas McNamara, ever before he saw a track. Longhouse Poet is similarly proficient, having come through the point-to-point field, where he won at Boulta in January 2019 for Sam Curling, with Derek O’Connor on board, as he was when Monkfish was downed in a bumper at the Punchestown Festival at the start of May.

Like Numbersix, Grand Nationals rather than Cheltenham are the focus for the Poet, for now at least, as he continues on an upward trajectory. He has been given an Aintree entry and though taking in the Irish Grand National first remains the likelier route before next year, it is no certainty.

Options open

“We are keeping our options open. We’ll have a couple of options and he has a decent chase under his belt now anyway.

“He has only ran six times over fences; that would maybe kind of make you sit up and think, ‘Is it too much of an ask?’

Well, it would have been before they modified the fences. But now it mightn’t be just such a turn if you are a good, sound jumper and they take to the place.

“He point-to-pointed before I got him. He was always a good horse to jump so I don’t necessarily think we have to do anything experience-wise to improve his jumping. He’s just a good horse to jump.”

That Grand National success remains his highlight to date.

“Aintree will always be top of the pile. I probably never envisaged myself ever having a runner in the race or having a horse that might run in it. Then when he went and won a Thyestes and then an Irish National; I remember saying to Deirdre the night of the Irish National, ‘There’s only one place he’s going now.’”

Ticking the Cheltenham box was sweet too, particularly for the Mulryans to bag the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle in 2019. Unfortunately, City Island never kicked on from that momentous defeat of Champ. The runner-up, remember, is now a four-time Grade 1 winner and close to favourite for the Stayers’ Hurdle, having defeated future Gold Cup and Ryanair Chase heroes Minella Indo and Allaho in the RSA Novice Chase 12 months after failing by two lengths to reel in the Court Cave nine-year-old. City Island now has a new career ahead of him.

“He’s grand, he’s retired. He is going to do a little bit of racehorse-to-riding classes and hopefully he will enjoy that. He is a grand, gentle type of horse. He beat a very good horse on the day in Cheltenham. He might have left a bit of his heart there. He had to battle hard.

“He didn’t mind fences but we were just hoping he would go the same route as he did over hurdles. We weren’t going to be sending him around the country for the sake of it though.

“He gave us a marvellous day, the Mulryan family sponsoring the race and winning their own race. You wouldn’t forgive yourself if anything happened him just going around in a race so we’re happy to retire him and hopefully he’ll enjoy what he’s doing now.”

The Newmarket-on-Fergus native has certainly left an indelible mark on racing since leaving the Banner County on New Year’s Eve 1976 to take up a job with Mick O’Toole, starting off on New Year’s Day. He has been on the Curragh since, spending a number of years too with Neil McGrath as his assistant and amateur jockey before a bad fall ended the riding days and catapulted him into the training ranks.

His brother, John had already enjoyed some good times as a trainer, based back at home – indeed, he had ridden winners for his sibling himself, including on future Ladbroke Hurdle winner How’s The Boss. So in 1994, Brassil saddled his first runner and the late Anthony Powell was in the plate when Nordic Thorn provided the landmark maiden winner, in Killarney in May.

He has as good a depth of quality as he ever remembers possessing now and is looking forward to having a couple of runners this weekend, starting off with Panda Boy in the three-mile Paddy Power I’d Love A Can Handicap Hurdle, who returns to Foxrock after garnering the Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle there over Christmas.

Competitive race

“He’s favourite at the moment anyway but it is a fairly competitive race. It looks a much stronger race than the two-mile one, it looks a real competitive race. He won well at Christmas and the ground at the moment will just suit him fine.

“I’d say whatever he will do over hurdles he’ll do better over fences; he’s a great big horse.”

Fastorslow runs tomorrow in the two-mile contest, the Liffey Handicap Hurdle.

“I hope he comes on from his last run. He didn’t seem to finish it out the last day but we will see if he comes on. If not, we might go up in trip.”

The Saint Des Saints five-year-old was a winner over hurdles and fences in his native France in 2019 and showed up well when second at the Punchestown Festival on his first outing for Brassil and the Mulryans – and first run in a year and a half – in April. If he can be rejuvenated, he could be quite promising yet.

Dual hurdle winner An Epic Song swerves Leopardstown due to a preference for softer ground and as illustrated with his good win over almost two and a half miles at Punchestown on New Year’s Eve, a step up in trip from the minimum distance.

You Raised Me Up got his chasing career going when fourth to Ferny Hollow at the beginning of December and will look to build on that in the coming weeks. Beyond that, Doctor Brown Bear, who was purchased from Brendan Duke, and Choice Of Words have potential engagements in the Fred Winter and Mares’ Novice Hurdle at Cheltenham.

“Doctor Brown Bear has had five runs in juvenile hurdles. He was fourth to Fil Dor, in Fairyhouse, beaten a good bit (15 and a half lengths). And he was second in a maiden hurdle to that mare of Joseph (O’Brien)’s (Six Feet Apart), who won in Doncaster (eight days ago). He is consistent without winning his maiden hurdles.

“He might be on a mark where he might get into the race. He might run between this and then just to see how he gets on. Choice Of Words was second in Limerick in very, very bad ground to a kind of a seasoned horse of Noel Meade’s, Daly Tiger. So she will possibly run at Naas on the 12th in that Red Mills Auction Series Novice Hurdle. And we will see where we go from that.”

That Connolly’s supported programme has been good to Brassil, with City Island and You Raised Me Up among his other graduates. “They are a great series. And if she is not good enough for the top races, she qualifies for the series final the Festival in Punchestown. She won one of those series maidens in Galway. in October”

His son Conor has had the progress of his riding career slowed by a bad run of injuries but is working with Joseph O’Brien. David has returned to the fold though.

“He went to France and he spent 10 years working in racing there, rode a bit too, so he is a huge help to me now.”

It all adds up to a thriving concern, headed by a man who is allergic to drama. That calmness tends to rub off on people, and horses, as the CV tells you.

And it seems more than likely that there is more to come.