Phil Kirby targets Wetherby for Top Ville Ben

Tommy Dowson’s mount appeared to have taken well to the famous fences on Merseyside in a notable Randox Grand National trial before coming to grief at the 12th obstacle.

Having emerged unscathed, the nine-year-old will now be prepared for Wetherby’s Grade Three feature on December 26, which he won in 2019.

Kirby, who trains at Catterick, said: “Top Ville is absolutely fine. He was loving it until he came down, but he’s capable of doing something stupid like that! He’ll probably go to the Rowland Meyrick again and we’ll see where we go from there.”

A decision on whether Top Ville Ben could return to Aintree for a tilt at the Grand National will not be made until nearer the time.

“I wouldn’t rule it out,” Kirby added. “He looked like a potential National horse on Saturday. We went there thinking if he won that would be absolutely brilliant, but if he jumped round and ran well, he’d still have a lovely weight for the National.

“We probably didn’t answer any of the questions really, apart from we know he can jump them, but can fall at one as well! He’s all right, which is the main thing.”

Two other horses for whom Kirby holds high hopes are Bushypark and Skycutter.

Bushypark won five times over hurdles last season and made a successful reappearance and chasing debut at Kelso on Sunday in a race in which two of his three rivals failed to finish.

Kirby said: “I was really pleased with how he jumped.

“Maybe the race fell apart a little bit, but you can only beat what’s in front of you and he couldn’t do any more than that,” he added.

Skycutter made it two from two over hurdles at Musselburgh on Monday – dominating from the front for much of the way and finding enough on the run-in to beat another previous winner in Collingham.

“Tommy (Dowson) was trying not to give him a hard race and he’d gone fast enough, so something was entitled to come out of the pack,” added the trainer.

Bingley trainer Sue Smith and jockey Ryan Mania teamed up to land a double at Hexham courtesy of Just Jess and Treshnish.

The double comes as they consider whether to declare Midnight Shadow, last month’s Paddy Power Gold Cup winner, in this Saturday’s big race at Cheltenham.

Meanwhile, stable conditional Thomas Willmott’s eyecatching form continued with a hard-fought success on Shoughall’s Boy for Harriet Graham.

This was Willmott’s second win of the week following 
Monday’s win at Musselburgh on the Barry Murtagh-trained Elixer.

Burrow Seven, trained by Jedd O’Keeffe, is set to make his racecourse debut at Catterick next Tuesday.

The four-year old gelding is owned by the Burrow Seven Racing Club, which has been set up in honour of former rugby league player Rob Burrow.

Last year the Burrow Seven Racing Club raised £100,000 for the MND Association.

Catterick general manager Fiona Needham said: “The racing club are fundraising for such a fantastic cause, and hopefully their colours will be carried to great success!”