Irish horse trainer Martin Brassil calls for dramatic change to Dublin Racing Festival 'to rival Cheltenham'

MARTIN BRASSIL has called for a major change to the Dublin Racing Festival which he believes could see it rival Cheltenham.

The annual Irish showcase begins on Saturday with a seven-race card featuring the country's best and brightest horses, jockeys, and trainers.

The two-day festival concludes with another seven-race card on Sunday, but Brassil believes it should be extended further.

The Kildare man was speaking to BoyleSports who offer the latest Cheltenham betting.

He said: “It is now huge in its own right. Why shouldn’t it be? We have some of the best horses, best trainers and best jockeys!

"I’m only half joking! We do have some of the best horses around at this juncture.

“There is huge expectation about Irish horses going to Cheltenham compared with when I started out as a trainer 30 years ago when we’d be lucky to come away with three or four winners.

"That has totally turned around. The likes of Willie (Mullins), Gordon (Elliott) and Henry (De Bromhead) are picking up an awful lot of the prizes over there, not a singleton like myself."

Asked if and why the DRF should be made three-days long instead of two, he claimed that doing so could see it rise to the calibre of Cheltenham.

He added: “Why not? If we go for three days maybe we can start forgetting about Cheltenham and concentrate on our own and attract the English over here instead.

“You never say never in this life. You can see something in Dublin that has taken off and is getting more and more popular.

"The prize money is fantastic. 

“Put on the right races and you will attract the right horses and that is what everyone wants to see.”

Brassil will have three runners at the Dublin Racing Festival this weekend.

That makes for a more modest number compared to the likes of Willie Mullins, Gordon Elliott, or Henry de Bromhead.

And he admitted it is a challenge competing with trainers of their pedigree.

He said: "It is very tough. If you have a good horse then it is great. It is tough day in and day out.

"Wherever you go now you can’t avoid them.

"Years ago before they got that strong you were always able to gear a horse perhaps towards the summer months.

"But they have that many customers and that many horses they have to keep a big batch for the summer.

"It doesn’t matter where you turn up, either one or both will be there!

“It is inevitable, I suppose. But it is totally new to people who have been in the game as long as I have.

"If you go back 40-50 years no trainer had more than 50-60 horses, the likes of Tom Draper, Vincent O’Brien; none of them had those types of numbers that Willie, Gordon and Henry do - it has changed dramatically.

“It is no fault of the big trainers that they are attracting the wealthier owners who are willing to buy expensive point-to-point and bumper winners.