Connell retains maximum confidence in Marine Nationale

Barry Connell is expecting a “different ball game” when Marine Nationale bids to turn the tables on his Leopardstown conqueror Majborough in the BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.

Marine Nationale was a brilliant winner of the two-mile chasing showpiece at Prestbury Park in March last year, his second Festival success having previously won the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in 2023.

The nine-year-old is no longer favourite to successfully defend his Champion Chase crown in five weeks’ time, however, after being beaten 19 lengths by the Willie Mullins-trained Majborough in Sunday’s Dublin Chase, but Connell feels his stable star’s brilliance was blunted by the unusually testing ground at the Foxrock circuit.

“He’s in good shape afterwards, there’s isn’t a mark on him and he seems bright in himself,” Connell told the Press Association.

“I could easily not have run him as he’s not a hard horse to get fit and we could have just given him a racecourse gallop, but the DRF (Dublin Racing Festival) is such an important meeting now we wanted to support it and there’s no harm done, that’s the main thing.

“It was very unfortunate we got probably three months’ rain in a week at Leopardstown, which we never get. I live beside the track and I can never remember it as bad as that.

“I walked the track on Sunday morning and I thought it didn’t walk too bad, but it was proper heavy ground. He’s won on spring soft ground and we said we’d try it, but he never got going for the first mile, the winner jumped off smartly and got into a good rhythm and they were going 34/35 mph around the bend, so for the first mile of the race he was out of his comfort zone.”

While Marine Nationale was ultimately unable to lay a glove on Majborough, who produced a sensational front-running display, Connell was encouraged by the way his charge finished off the Grade One contest to earn himself the runner-up spot.

“When they got to the mile and a quarter start he started to get into it and in the back half of the race he was good,” the trainer continued.

“I thought our fella was very good from turning in, jumping the last he looked like he was going to be a bad third but he got going again and only got one flick behind the saddle, so he didn’t have a hard race.

“Sean (Flanagan) just said it felt like his wheels were spinning and he couldn’t get any traction, but what impressed me was how he got back into it, even though the ground was rotten.”

Majborough is the 6-4 market leader for the Champion Chase with Betfred, who make Marine Nationale a 5-2 shot, and Connell is relishing the rematch.

He added: “Fair play to Majborough, he jumped exceptionally well and on the day, with the conditions that were there, he was a very good winner.

“But we know what happens in March with our guy when we get a bit of nice ground over there – he’s been there twice and won twice. It will be a different ball game, a different kettle of fish and we’re looking forward to it.

“Cheltenham is a different jumping test as you’re jumping on the bend, you’re undulating and fences are coming up to you from all kinds of angles. We know we handle it, we’ll be going there with all guns blazing and I hope you’ll see a different result.”