IF you’re going to use a prep race for the Grand National, the Tote Fantasy Bobbyjo Chase (3.55) has always been an excellent option. It’s virtually the first opportunity for horses to run after the weights are published for the National, which happened on Tuesday this week.

The advantage is two-fold. The National is an early closing race, with the weights now set in stone - so if you win or perform well, your rating won’t change and you’ll effectively be well in on the day. Secondly, of all the good trial races coming up, those who run at Fairyhouse today will have the longest possible time off between their races.

It’s no surprise seven of the nine-runner field in the Bobbyjo were among the weights published for the 78 runners left in the National.

Of the seven, Carefully Selected, Pencilfulloflead and Longhouse Poet are all prominent in the betting and worth monitoring today, particularly the last mentioned, who is shortest of the trio at 16/1 for the Aintree contest.

His trainer Martin Brassil seemed quite content with a mark of 155, which was the same mark he raced off when finishing sixth to Noble Yeats in the race last year.

Interestingly, when asked about that run last season, Brassil seemed to point to an exuberant ride from Darragh O’Keeffe as a hindrance, and overall the Kildare trainer seemed positive on his chances of gaining a second win in the race.

However, speaking to The Irish Field yesterday, Brassil did say that he was “mystified” with the nine-year-old’s run in the Galmoy Hurdle last time at Gowran, where he was tailed off in the six-runner field so he will be hoping for a lot better today.

“It probably wasn’t ideal for him to be making the running there on holding and very deep ground,” Brassil explained. “But at the same time, we were kind of mystified with the run. I thought he would run better than that. I didn’t think he’d beat the winner (Teahupoo) but I thought he’d run well enough.

“This was the race we were looking at so we’ve stuck to the plan. We’re hoping he might leave his Gowran run behind him.”

Asked what he’d like to see from Longhouse Poet today, Brassil replied: “A good competitive round of jumping and we’ll see where that takes him. Carefully Selected looks like the one to beat. It’s usually a good race and looks that way again this year.”

Brassil has kept Longhouse Poet to hurdles so far this season in order to protect his chase mark, but he won’t have to worry about that now and a good run today will largely be a case of job done in getting him back to Aintree with another big chance.

Carefully Selected is a big player after his Thyestes win but the bookmakers favour his stablemate, the Paul Townend-ridden Kemboy, who doesn’t have an entry in the National.