Marine Nationale bidding to regain Champion Chase crown
Barry Connell said Marine Nationale was only 80% fit when he ran at Punchestown in April. Pic: Healy Racing.
Barry Connell says Marine Nationale will make a bold bid at regaining his Champion Chase title at the Cheltenham Festival if he gets the rub of the green after a luckless campaign last season.
The nine-year-old, who was an impressive winner of the two-mile contest in March 2025, was unable to defend his crown last season after suffering with a viral infection in the build-up to Cheltenham.
He recovered enough to reappear at Punchestown at the end of the season, but ended up posting a third runner-up performance, beaten five lengths by Il Etait Temps when only 80% fit.
Given a clear run this winter Connell believes his stable star can show he is no back number and, on a stage where he is unbeaten following wins in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and Champion Chase, believes the nine-year-old could bounce back.
Connell said: “He has come in great and we have had a clear run with him this year. Last season we just didn’t get the bounce of the ball with him at any stage.
“His first run at Leopardstown at Christmas he was just a bit fresh, took off, landed on the top of the fence and ended up facing the wrong way. Nine times out of 10 the jockey would probably have pulled him up but he got him going again and he was only beaten a head.
“At the Dublin Racing Festival he had a hard race in second (behind runaway winner Majborough). Then a couple of weeks before Cheltenham his immune system must have been down because he got a bit of a viral infection.
“We got him back for Punchestown but he was probably only 80% then and he ended up having another hard race and finishing second again.
“This time we will give him a racecourse school some time in November and then it will be on to Leopardstown at Christmas, the Dublin Racing Festival, Champion Chase and finish off at Punchestown.”
Connell plans to be triple-handed in the two mile division at the Festival, with Eachtotheirown being aimed at the Arkle Chase and William Munny at a Champion Hurdle division that might be lacking a superstar.
Eachtotheirown finished last in the Supreme, but bounced back to win the Grade One Champion Novice Hurdle at Punchestown at the end of April.
“He is aiming for the Arkle. We put the red hood on him in the Supreme instead of the black hood and when the hood came off that was the end of the race,” said the trainer. “He is quite keen, but when he gets to the front he relaxes, like he did at Punchestown.
“He is going novice chasing, we schooled him again last week and he jumps great so he’ll probably go to Naas in the middle of November for a beginners’ chase and then on to Leopardstown for the Grade One then on to the Arkle.
“William Munny goes to the Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown in the middle of November. He went out in the field and picked up a fracture, we got him back and he had one run in the Grade One at Punchestown (finishing just over 18 lengths behind Lossiemouth) in open company.
“If we get him back to where he was just touched off by Kopek De Bordes in the Supreme (March 2025), he will be very competitive in that division. So that is the route he will take – Morgiana and then on to all those Grade Ones and Champion Hurdle.”
