Barry Connell is confident Marine Nationale is fit enough to do himself justice ahead of his return to action in the Paddy’s Rewards Club Chase at Leopardstown on Saturday.
Winner of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in 2023, an interrupted novice chase campaign meant he started last season on the back foot, but he came of age with a fantastic victory in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in the spring.
The eight-year-old followed up in the corresponding race at Punchestown the following month and while he has not been since, his delayed start to this term is down to soft ground rather than any setbacks.
“He’s in great shape, we’ve had an uninterrupted preparation and it’s all gone very smoothly,” said Connell, who owns and trains Marine Nationale.
“The situation last year was we missed most of our novice season the year before with the suspensory injury, so we were coming straight into open company last year and he was lacking in jumping experience, particularly at that two-mile chase level where you need to be very fast and accurate.
“It wasn’t fitness that was an issue with him, it was just about trying to get the requisite experience into him and we kind of knew it would take a couple of runs because he was going in against more battle-hardened horses.
“This year he’s got all the experience he needs and he’s not a hard horse to get fit. He’s come back after lengthy breaks before – he had a good break between the Royal Bond and the Supreme as a novice hurdler, so I wouldn’t be concerned about fitness.”
Marine Nationale faces a far from straightforward task on his comeback, with several high-class rivals in wait, but Connell is confident his stable star is the one to beat.
He added: “They do a very good job with the ground in Leopardstown so that should be fine. He’s actually won twice on soft ground, the only ground I wouldn’t want for him is very deep, winter ground.
“I think he sets the standard. He’s the highest-rated horse in the race with a rating of 170, he’s a dual Champion Chase winner from Cheltenham and Punchestown in the spring and he won convincingly both times.
“He probably will improve a little bit for the run, but we think he’s fairly straight going into the race.”
Joseph O’Brien’s Solness is the defending champion having beaten Gaelic Warrior 12 months ago, and he backed that up with a dominant display at the Dublin Racing Festival. However, he was a long way behind Marine Nationale at Cheltenham and Punchestown.
“He’s ready to go back to Leopardstown and the more it dries the better it is for him,” said O’Brien.
“It will be hard probably for him to win on his first run back against some good horses, but he loves Leopardstown and that’s where he’s generally at his best.
“He was good at Navan and he has been good at other places, but it is fair to say he always seems to be at his best at Leopardstown.”
Captain Guinness won the 2024 Champion Chase, but has been without a win since for Henry de Bromhead.
“He’s gone a little inconsistent, but he still came back and finished third in the Champion Chase at Cheltenham,” said De Bromhead.
“Like myself, he’s getting a bit older now and we’ll see. He was a little disappointing in the Fortria Chase at Navan last month (pulled up) and heavy ground at this stage of his life probably isn’t for him. I wanted to get a run into him but probably regretted it afterwards. Darragh (O’Keeffe) looked after him, though.
“Leopardstown probably wouldn’t be his favoured track and it’s a good race, but it’s a good opportunity for him to run.”
Willie Mullins’ Majborough needs to put an erratic display of jumping in the Hilly Way behind him, while Gordon Elliott’s Found A Fifty arrives on the back of wins in the Fortria and Hilly Way.
Further Grade One action on the card comes in the Paddy Power Future Champions Novice Hurdle, with Mullins’ Le Divin Enfant the favourite.
Stablemate Love Me Tender, Elliott’s Skylight Hustle and Koktail Brut and De Bromhead’s Mister Pessimistic add strength in depth.