Following his third-placed finish in the Bulmers Leopardstown Handicap Chase at last weekend's Dublin Racing Festival, Top Ville Ben is being lined up for a tilt at the Randox Topham Chase over the Grand National fences at Aintree's showpiece meeting in April.
The front-running 11-year-old was one of only three UK raiders to line-up in Ireland over the course of the two-day meeting, but that enterprise was rewarded when the Green Oaks Farm stalwart brought home €13,500 of prize-money for connections following his brave frame finish.
Although sent off a rather unfancied 28-1 in the hands of Thomas Dowson, Top Ville Ben gave a bold sight – jumping and galloping with aplomb close to the pace and only giving way late in the day to eventual winner The Goffer and runner-up Glamorgan Duke.
Trainer Phil Kirby was delighted to see the adaptable son of Beneficial run to form and also praised the warm hospitality both himself and Top Ville Ben's owners received at Leopardstown.
He said: "He ran really well and we were really pleased.
"Obviously we would have liked to have won but the horse ran really well, the owners had a brilliant time and we were all very well looked after. It's just a shame the ground dried up a little bit. I think with softer ground, he would have finished even closer.
"There were no excuses though, everything went to plan really and we were sat where we wanted to be and we came there with every chance – he just wasn't quite good enough on the day. He's done everything right though and I suppose he's a bit exposed being a bit older than the rest of them.
"We gave our running, ran and jumped well and it was a great day out. You would certainly go back and it was good prize-money – it was definitely worth going that's for sure.
"Hopefully there will be another nice day for him as long as the handicapper doesn't do anything drastic – or anything at all really. I think he's about right where he is."
Ground will determine if Top Ville Ben will run again before his spring target and tackling the Grand National fences for a third time at Aintree on April 14.
"The main plan now will be the Topham," continued Kirby. "Whether we have a run in between or not, we will have to see how things pan out. It's a dry forecast so I can't see anything happening too soon, but the plan would be hopefully we get some nice ground at Aintree and we'll have a go at the Topham.
"I think if we got some soft ground he would go there with a nice chance. Although I think the drier it is, his chance dries up a bit with it. The more rain, the more in his favour it would be."
Conditions are also set to dictate where Jason The Militant will be next seen with an outing at the Cheltenham Festival an option, provided rain arrives to slow the ground up at Prestbury Park.
"We're a bit stuck with him really as he is probably a bit more ground dependent than Ben," added Kirby.
"We'll have to see how things go but there is a handicap at the Cheltenham Festival (County Hurdle) he can run in and there is also the Champion Hurdle. If that was to cut up and it came up soft, then there is probably worse places we could go to try to pick up some good prize-money."
He went on: "I thought he ran really well for his first run back and he probably needed it a little bit. He didn't do an awful lot wrong really, he was just given an impossible task in a handicap first time out for a while.
"We needed to get a run into him and the ground was a bit too quick but we got away with it. I wouldn't really want to run him on ground like that too often."
