Martin Brassil saddled yet another big staying handicap winner as Desertmore House capitalised on a number of withdrawals to land the Guinness Kerry National Handicap Chase at Listowel.
Continued rainfall at the County Kerry venue had caused ground conditions to deteriorate throughout the morning and with a number of withdrawals, the Martin Brassil-trained eight-year-old was able to sneak in at the foot of the weights.
The race was seemingly dominated by powerful stables Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott, who looked to have it between them as the 11/2 favourite Salvador Ziggy [Elliott] and top-weight Authorized Art [Mullins] cruised into the contention with a handful of fences left to take.
However, with just 10st 6lb on his back, Desertmore House continued to make stealthy headway under a confident-looking Ricky Doyle and the pair stayed on powerfully to score by a ready three- and three-quarter lengths following a spring-heeled leap at the last.
The 11/1 winner, who sported the same colours that Grand National hero Numbersixvalverde carried to success in 2006, was given an opening quote of 50/1 by Paddy Power for the Aintree feature next April.
Brassil said: "It was a late plan after he won in Kilbeggan and we saw he had gone to 135. He's a novice that jumps like a handicapper and we just wanted to get more experience into him, whatever the ground was like,"
"There are plenty of races coming up like this – the Munster National, the Troytown at Navan and the Paddy Power – so there are lots of options for a horse that jumps like that.
"He got in as a reserve. Gordon rang me this morning and said, 'you should put your horse in the box as I have one out and we will walk the track and if we're not happy we'll take a second one out'.
"It was a real sporting gesture. He's finished second, but he's won plenty of these races!
"We've had some lovely winners with these colours and Numbersixvalverde is the one that sticks out. This fellow might start us dreaming again. He's eight and has had a good time to mature.
"They went a bit steady, and I said to Ricky if you are still travelling jumping the third-last they are not after going fast enough. I said make sure you are in the van as they will quicken up from there, but they are going to have to stay as well.
"He said it rode a bit slower than they were expecting, but he handled it well."
