WHEN it comes to prepping a horse for a day, Martin Brassil has few peers.

His handling of City Island last year was superb and he ensured that he didn’t have a hard winter so that the son of Court Cave was at his peak at Cheltenham in March.

Training big race winners is nothing new to him. He’s won Nationals with Numbersixvalverde, and after his success at Aintree in 2006, Brassil trained plenty of good horses which won lots of races but winning the Ballymore at Cheltenham with City Island was a well executed plan.

Having won his maiden hurdle at Galway, he went and won what was in hindsight, a much stronger race at Leopardstown at Christmas and that victory suggested that City Island was well above average.

“He was always a nice horse and it was funny the way things worked out for him as we went to Galway last year after he won his bumper at Punchestown where he won his maiden hurdle and it’s been well documented that he subsequently lost that race,” explained Brassil

“We decided to train him in the hope that he might be a Ballymore horse. He won his maiden hurdle at Leopardstown, and rather than throw him into a graded race, we went to Naas for a Red Mills Auction Race, which he won well.

“I knew that he was in rude health after he won at Leopardstown and that was the perfect race for him as we didn’t want him to have a hard race before Cheltenham,” he added.

“He was lovely and fresh going to Cheltenham. We felt that he was good enough to be going there, as he beat some good horses at Leopardstown at Christmas time and we trained him to peak at Cheltenham.

“I just felt that, with normal improvement that he’d go there with a good chance and we knew that he would stay well. They go hard at Cheltenham and that would suit him. We were under no pressure, but we were pretty confident that he had a good each way chance.

“I wasn’t nervous, as his preparation had gone so well. He travelled over great and we knew that he was in very good form. We also took him down to Jim Bolger’s just to give him a day away and I have to thank Jim and Kevin Manning for that.

“We hadn’t ourselves geared up thinking that we were going to beat some of the fancied horses, but jumping the second last, you could see that he was travelling so well and facing up to the last, I knew that his stamina would come in to play. It would take a fair horse to beat him from there and when he won, it was just a great moment and to walk back into that winner’s enclosure was just fantastic.

“He is a grand sound horse to train and we have had him since he was a three-year-old. I know him well and knew what his limitations were. The only hard race that he had last season was at Cheltenham and that had clearly left a mark on him at Punchestown.”

The six-year-old has schooled well over fences and Brassil continued, “the plan has always been to go chasing with him this season and we schooled him over fences before we let him off for the summer and we were very happy with how he jumped.”

Brassil is far from a one-horse yard and while he is not one that wants big numbers, he has a fine team of young horses and he said: “There are some lovely young horses that came to me earlier this year. They are cantering away and we are in no rush with them and hopefully a few of them might make four-year-olds in the second half of next year.

“Some might make bumper horses and we might go point-to-pointing with a few of them, and as a bunch, I’d like them and they have good pedigrees, which is what you need to compete over here at the minute.”

“We have great staff and they all know what they have to do and they are invaluable to me.

“I have super owners who allow me to do what I think is best for the horses and we can give the horses that little bit of individual attention, as our numbers will never be big.”

Artic Pearl

8yo b g (1U5U/P1-U4)

Shirocco – Mirana

Sean & Bernardine Mulryan

He’ll go back to Punchestown on the 8th of December for a handicap hurdle, a race that he won last year. He has been a bit unlucky over fences and he wouldn’t be mad about real soft ground.

City Island

6yo b g (2/11D111-6)

Court Cave – Victorine

Sean & Bernardine Mulryan

He didn’t have a hard race before he went to Cheltenham so he remains a fresh horse with not a lot of racing done. He has run in just two graded races in his life and races at that level will catch up with them eventually.

He likes a bit of decent ground and last year/season it couldn’t have worked out any better for him. The ground was lovely for him at Leopardstown and Naas. He won his bumper on yielding ground and possibly the slowest ground that he ran in last season, was at Cheltenham. He has never run on ground with heavy mentioned in it.

He wouldn’t be your big, awesome chaser, he’s a very athletic horse, lean enough at times, and I just felt that he’d like to be jumping out of a reasonably sound surface. He has schooled very well over fences and I’d like to start him off on a bit of nice ground. What we see here at home, he has taken well to chasing.

I had him entered at Naas but the ground went heavy, so we didn’t go. We’ll try something similar to last season and if we have to wait until Christmas time, that would be fine and if he managed to win his beginners, we’ll look for a winners’ race and that might nearly be enough with a view to the spring and Cheltenham.

Mark Walsh celebrates on City Island in Cheltenham \ Healy Racing.

Don Patricio

4yo b g (-5U14)

Camacho – Hushaby

Way Back Syndicate

He won for us last season but he’s a horse that likes a bit of nice ground. He’ll be back in the spring and we might mix it over hurdles and the flat next year. He’s only four so we are in no rush to jump a fence with him.

Don Patricio and Conor Brassil jump the last to win the Taylor Construction Maiden Hurdle \ Healy Racing

Longhouse Poet

5yo b g (1-12)

Yeats - Moscow Madame

Sean & Bernardine Mulryan

He won a Punchestown bumper after he won his point-to-point and we were very pleased with his first run, when second in a maiden hurdle at Naas. There are two options for him next month and I was talking to Noel Meade at the weekend and he said that you need a 135-rated horse to win a maiden at the minute and I’ve never seen the standard as high as it is now.

Hopefully, this lad will win his maiden and we’d be looking at trying to go a similar route with him, as we did with City Island. We won’t overface him and he might develop into a Ballymore horse, but it is early days yet.

Take Revenge

7yo g (P1/5321-9P)

Sean & Bernardine Mulryan

Gold Well - Avenging Ange

I am looking forward to him over fences. He won his point-to-point and he was good over hurdles and his run in that good handicap at Punchstown was good – he wasn’t beaten far by in the end by Mr Adjudicator.

Things happened a bit fast for him at Naas where there were a few fallers at the first and he was a bit careful after that. We’ll freshen him and get back for a beginners’.

You Raised Me Up

6yo b g (5/34/1-422)

Presenting - Morning Supreme

Chiat Kwong Ching & S Mulryan

He has been second on his last two runs over hurdles and the form of his run, in a four-runner bumper at Punchestown, has worked out very well. I’d be hoping that he’ll win his maiden and we might put him by for the winter as he likes a bit of nice ground.

Whatsafellatodo

6yo b g (P/55211-8)

Beneficial - Carrowmore Queen

Sean & Bernardine Mulryan

He is on a break at the minute and we’ll have him back for the spring/summer next year.