Longhouse Poet can give Martin Brassil a second Grand National win
Longhouse Poet was an impressive winner of the Thyestes Chase at Gowran Park in January and should give Darragh O'Keeffe a good spin in the Grand National. Picture: Healy Racing
Successful with Numbersixvalverde in 2006, Martin Brassil can continue the recent Irish domination of the Randox Grand National by saddling Longhouse Poet to victory in the Aintree spectacular.
Placed at Grade One level as a novice hurdler, Longhouse Poet lacks experience over fences but his impressive victory in the Thyestes Chase at Gowran Park in January — a race Numbersixvalverde won the season before his Grand National triumph — proved his fondness for an extreme stamina test.
As was the case with Numbersixvalverde, Longhouse Poet warmed up for Aintree with a spin over hurdles, a workout that should have left him spot-on for this assignment.
As an eight-year-old making just his seventh chase start, he has more scope for improvement than many of his rivals and his prominent racing style suggests he won’t have any trouble holding a prominent racing position. That’s a huge asset in a modern National.
A further positive is Brassil’s National record. Longhouse Poet will be just his fourth runner in the most famous steeplechase in the world but he boasts an excellent record. Having landed the spoils in 2006, Numbersixvalverde put up a decent defence of his crown when sixth a year later while Double Shuffle ran a cracking race to finish third in 2014.
In Longhouse Poet, Brassil looks to have unearthed another serious contender and jockey Darragh O’Keeffe could be set for the thrill of a lifetime.
It being the National, a case can obviously be made for several and Delta Work has to be a massive player.
A five-time Grade One winner, Delta Work spoilt Tiger Roll’s retirement party at Cheltenham last month and will surely go close if he takes to the Aintree fences the same way as the dual National hero famously did.
However, he had a hard race on testing ground on that occasion and Gordon Elliott’s lack of recent winners tempers enthusiasm somewhat.
That said, he is the classiest horse in the line-up and that should take him a long way.
At the other end of the weight scale, Eclair Surf has to enter calculations.
A 13-length winner of the Classic Chase at Warwick in January, the Emma Lavelle-trained eight-year-old produced another cracking effort when second to Win My Wings in the Eider Chase at Newcastle a month later.
That looked strong form at the time but it looks even stronger now after Win My Wings bolted up in the Scottish National last Saturday.
Connections of Eclair Surf have spent much of the week sweating about whether the horse would sneak into the race and, having done so, his form and light weight give him leading claims.
Fiddlerontheroof could also go well for Colin Tizzard.
A Grade One-winning hurdler, Fiddlerontheroof finished second to Monkfish in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at last year’s Cheltenham Festival, a position he also occupied in the Ladbrokes Trophy at Newbury last November and at Ascot on his most recent start.
In a National as deep as this, he may have to settle for minor honours again but he’s a definite each-way contender.
1: Longhouse Poet
2: Delta Work
3: Eclair Surf
4: Fiddlerontheroof
