Martin Brassil
Quiet man making a big noise
If racing had pound-for-pound rankings similar to what The Ring maintains for boxing, Martin Brassil would be very close to the summit
Words: Michael Verney • Photos: Caroline Norris
Every trainer dreams of having horses that can compete at the highest level and given the arsenal currently at his disposal, Martin Brassil is relishing the season ahead.
With his son David now as assistant, and “a fantastic, hard-working and dedicated team” at his Cedar Lodge base, on the edge of The Curragh, there’s a spring in Brassil’s step.
A dislocated and fractured ankle finished Brassil’s riding career in 1991 and that same injury had left him with daily pain until he had the joint replaced two years ago. That operation has given him a new lease of life.
He has been in the training game for three decades but the 67-year-old looks as fresh as the first day he started and will stay plying his equine trade as long as is humanly possible. It’s more than a job, it’s a way of life.
Brassil is the coolest man in most rooms he enters, an unflappable type that goes about his business with the minimum of fuss but even he is excited about having a genuine Gold Cup prospect on his hands this season.
Most people thought he was being overly ambitious when pitching Fastorslow into the Punchestown Gold Cup off the back of a handicap run at the Cheltenham Festival - albeit just touched off by subsequent Aintree Grand National winner Corach Rambler - but Brassil knew best.
You don’t post profit figures of €25.95 for every €1 staked on all of your Irish jumps runners in the past five seasons - - a statistic he wasn’t aware of - without knowing the time of day and he pulled off an audacious feat to take down Cheltenham blue riband winner Galopin Des Champs, plus the runner-up, Bravemansgame.
What made it even more extraordinary was the fact that it was just the fifth chase start for Fastorslow with a victory as a three-year-old in France - when trained by Arnaud Chaille-Chaille - making it near impossible to find races for him outside of Grade 1 contests.
He went off at 20/1 but he was far from unfancied as he and JJ Slevin dished out the first chase defeat to Galopin Des Champs when the Willie Mullins-trained star has stayed on his feet. Punchestown was left stunned. Brassil was not, however.
“I wasn’t totally surprised that he won but I was sure he’d be in the first three, I could see him being very competitive,” Brassil reflects. “If you look back at the Gold Cup, both the winner and the second had hard races. But if my horse wasn’t in the race at Punchestown, they would have said that it was an epic race because it was only a nose between them at the finish. Hopefully he can continue and be able to fight his corner in these races.
“If my horse wasn’t in the race at Punchestown, they would have said that it was an epic race because it was only a nose between Galopin Des Champs and Bravemansgame at the finish”
“I don’t know what the ceiling is for him. It’s exciting, he’s a very good horse. Imagine to win a Gold Cup on his fifth run over fences?.
“This horse would be very much on a par with Nickname (eight times a winner at graded level for Brassil) and probably better. He’s the best I’ve ever had anyway. Whether that’s good enough to be up there with Galopin Des Champs and those remains to be seen. He did it once, we’ll have to see if he does it again.”
David, who spent ten years in France and worked with renowned trainer Francois Cottin before returning home with his wife Audrey, partners Fastorslow on the gallops each day and remarks that “it’s like driving a Bugatti in the morning”.
Having this type of horsepower on his hands is manna from heaven for the elder Brassil, whose son Conor is also a jockey of note, and he is as hungry as ever. “Ah, you would be hungry when you have the better type of horses, that’s all any trainer is striving for. They get you into the big races.”
Brassil has come a long way since leaving his beloved Clare - he still follows the fortunes of the Banner senior hurlers where possible - and learning his craft on The Curragh under the late, great Mick O’Toole nearly 50 years ago.
“There was only one way of doing it, the right way.”
Training horses was always on the radar of the Newmarket-on-Fergus native and patience has always been his virtue. He has never had any interest in expanding beyond the 30 horses in his care as that means “you get to know them all individually”.
“I’m lucky enough most of the time that I’ve owners that row in with the theory of waiting until the time is right for them to run so it makes the job a lot easier that they trust you know what you’re doing. You’re always doing right then.
“I love my work. You’re never going to be a millionaire but you love what you’re doing. At times it could be costing you money yourself but if you’re going to decide to go down that route, the one thing you have to learn is to do it properly and not to be taking shortcuts.
Longhouse Poet has been “the unlucky horse” in two Grand National outings but the former Thyestes Chase winner remains a firm prospect of emulating another Brassil charge that completed the Gowran Park/Aintree double, Numbersixvalverde
JJ Slevin delivers Fastorslow (near side) with perfect timing to score in the Punchestown Gold Cup
“I have as many as I’d ever want, I’m not into the numbers. I’ve always been striving towards getting quality horses rather than quantity. You’d have to be employing extra staff then and the staff problem is as bad as I’ve ever seen it in the equine industry.”
There’s a wit to Brassil that the public may not often see as he prefers to keep his own counsel but his results are there for all to see with great success in the training ranks since Nordic Thorn got him off the mark in Killarney back in May of 1994.
The pinnacle of the jumping game could yet be scaled via Fastorslow but there’s no doubting his greatest day in racing to this point - the 2006 Aintree Grand National success of Numbersixvalverde.
Prevailing with his first runner in the Liverpool showpiece points further to Brassil’s nous - Double Seven was also third in the 2014 edition - and Thyestes Chase winner Longhouse Poet has been “the unlucky horse” as he is being readied for a third tilt at the world’s most famous steeplechase next April.
Kerry National winner, Desertmore House (steered home by Ricky Doyle in the same colours as ‘Numbersix’ for owner Bernard Carroll) is another possible National contender but it will be a much different prospect than previous editions after a host of modifications.
“They’re doing everything to keep the race, whereas it’s never going to be that type of jumping test that it was in the past. Some people are not going to be happy either way and no matter what happens next year, the safety of horse and rider must be paramount to keep the race being the spectacle that it is.”
Martin is not long back from a trip to France having made the sojourn to watch the Richard Hughes-trained Bracken’s Laugh in the Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud and those famous colours have been good to him.
Sean and Bernardine Mulryan have been huge supporters of his with the sole Cheltenham Festival success coming when City Island landed the race they sponsor - the Grade 1 Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle - in 2019.
His last three visits to the Cotswolds since then have been remarkable, although ultimately heartbreaking with Fastorslow going down by a short head in the 2022 Coral Cup, and a neck in the 2023 Ultima, while An Epic Song was beaten by a head in the Coral Cup last March.
“You’d nearly be happier if they were third or fourth. When you get that close it’s a bit harder to take,” Brassil reflects.
There’s absolutely no doubting his ability to have one primed for the biggest days when he has the ammunition and other inmates like Glenquin Castle, who landed seven races in succession two seasons back in the colours of JP McManus, Irish Grand National fifth Panda Boy and novice chaser Walk With Paul will more than keep him ticking over.
Described by Doyle as a “genius who doesn’t waste his breath on too much but if he’s giving out advice you’d a fool not to listen,” it seems wise to close by asking him what changes he would make to Irish racing.
“The smaller owner is really being squeezed out of it,” Brassil responds. “And it’s no fault of the bigger owners, who are giving bigger prices for horses. The economy is obviously good and there’s lots of well-off people in the game but there’s nothing like seeing the excitement after a syndicate win.
“There’s even less syndicates in racing and I think something should be done to encourage syndicates and get the small owners back into races. Possibly have a series of qualifiers and have a final at the Punchestown Festival, possibly syndicate-owned horses or horses that went through the ring below a certain value.
“And maybe have it over fences. There are a couple of those Red Mills Auction Hurdles run all season and the final is in Punchestown but ideally, it would be better off if it was a handicap because you have a couple of standouts every year. The final can be a bit of an anti-climax whereas if it was a handicap, it would give everyone a chance.
“We need more younger people to come back racing. The reason a lot of them aren’t owning horses or in syndicates is that they can’t afford it because it’s too expensive to live now. There isn’t that much money surplus to requirement anymore.”
He also has a word of advice to racecourses.
”There’s an awful lot of other sports that are maybe more attractive for people to go to and they’re getting more exposure maybe and since online betting came in, why would you want to pay 30 quid into the races? Then, spend another 50 on your family getting them a burger and a mineral and then you haven’t even had a bet yet. You could sit at home on the couch and do it all. It’s too expensive.
“The tracks years ago were getting the crowds and I don’t know how much it was to go in, but now they are getting plenty of money from Racing TV to show each race. Why don’t they let the people in and let them spend money when they go in? They’ll spend the usual entrance fee when they go inside on a bet or a drink or food or whatever.”
Whether any of that happens is another story but given the trainer’s winning formula and his ability to maximise resources, racing authorities would be foolish to ignore him. Brassil is 30 years in the training game but the best could still be yet to come.