Barry Connell issued a positive update on Arkle favourite Marine Nationale after scoring with another potential star in William Munny at Naas on Sunday.

A field of five previous winners went to post for the Download The BetVictor App (Pro/Am) Flat Race, which features top-class performers like Killultagh Vic (2014), Carefully Selected (2018) and Gerri Colombe (2021) on its roll of honour.

Wingmen was an even-money favourite to provide the latter’s trainer Gordon Elliott with a fifth successive victory in the two-mile contest, but after racing keenly on the front end, he weakened late on and had to make do with minor honours in third.

William Munny, a short-head winner on his racecourse debut at Navan last month, was a 13-2 shot to double his tally in the hands of Finny Maguire and showed a sharp change of gear to run down both Wingmen and eventual runner-up Fleur In The Park to score by an impressive five lengths.

Connell said: “I’m astonished the price this horse went off. I thought he should have been even-money favourite on the back of his form.

“The horse of Willie Mullins’ that he beat the last day (C’est Ta Chance) was backed as if money was going out of fashion and they were clear of the rest.

“He’s hardly having a blow there and it was like a piece of work.”

While Connell has no doubt William Munny has what it takes to make it to the top, he will resist the temptation to run in next month’s Champion Bumper at Cheltenham, but could go for the corresponding race at the Punchestown Festival later in the spring.

“He’s very unusual for a Westerner, as they normally don’t win bumpers, they improve when they get a hurdle and a fence,” he said.

“I’m definitely not taking him to Cheltenham. I don’t like giving them more than two runs in winner’s bumpers but I’m going to bring this lad to Punchestown for the Champion Bumper there, and I think he’s the one to beat in it.

“In my view, he’s the best bumper horse in the country and I’m hoping he’ll be a Grade One horse over a hurdle next year.”

One Connell inmate who most definitely has a trip to Cheltenham on his agenda is stable star Marine Nationale, winner of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the showpiece meeting last season.

Following a foot-perfect chasing debut at Leopardstown over Christmas, he blotted his copybook for the first time with a disappointing showing in the Irish Arkle at the same track earlier this month, but his trainer is keeping the faith ahead of his return to the Cotswolds.

Connell added: “Marine Nationale was in Fairyhouse yesterday. We brought the two Cheltenham horses, him and Enniskerry. Enniskerry runs in the Grand Annual.

“We brought the two of them for an away day. They didn’t do a whole pile, just jumped the four fences up to Ballyhack and they are all set now the two of them.

“All we need now is a bit of spring ground, and nine times out of 10 we get it in Cheltenham.”

Connections of Noble Birth also harbour Cheltenham Festival dreams following his 16-1 triumph in the Pertemps Network Group Handicap Hurdle.

Conor McNamara, representing his father Eric, said: “Things just didn’t quite go to plan in Musselburgh the last day, but it was lovely that he came right today.

“He ran a blinder at Cheltenham back in November and was just too keen. It was my fault to put the cheek pieces on him, but we left them off him today and he relaxed lovely.

“He was a few pounds out of the handicap today. If he gets into the Pertemps (Final) at Cheltenham, he’ll go – and if he doesn’t, we might look at Mallow (Cork) in a month’s time and see if we can get him qualified for the Final of the Full Circle Series in Punchestown.”

Father and son Conor and Charlie O’Dwyer teamed up to win the Listed Nas Na Riogh Novice Handicap Chase with the JP McManus-owned Battle It Out (6-1).

“The conditions suited him. He wants soft ground and a bit of a trip. He jumped unbelievable,” said O’Dwyer senior.

“We’ll see what Frank (Berry, racing manager) and JP want to do and be led by them.”

Willie Mullins unleashed yet another promising recruit in the Naas Racecourse Business Club Maiden Hurdle, with French import Tounsivator (7-2) winning with a little more in hand than the official margin of a length and a quarter might suggest in the hands of Paul Townend.

The champion trainer’s son and assistant, Patrick Mullins, said: “Paul said he was a bit keen, but being an ex-Flat horse, you’d expect that. His jumping was good bar he stood on himself after the last. To recover and win after losing all momentum was impressive.

“I’m sure he’ll go for novice hurdles at Fairyhouse and Punchestown.”

Barry Connell remains at a loss to explain Marine Nationale’s disappointing performance in the Irish Arkle at Leopardstown on Saturday.

A brilliant winner of last season’s Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, the seven-year-old made a foot-perfect start to his career over fences at Leopardstown’s Christmas meeting and was odds-on to add a third Grade One to his CV back at the Foxrock circuit.

However, while Marine Nationale briefly threatened to challenge rounding the home turn, he found little when push came to shove and was ultimately well beaten in fifth place.

Connell feels underfoot conditions may not have been ideal for his stable star, but will conduct further tests this week to try to discover if something else was amiss.

He said: “He seems fine this morning, but we’ll have to run a lot of further tests on him this week, so we won’t know until later in the week what the full clinical picture of him is.

“He’s sound anyway and seems to come out of the race OK, so we’re still a little bit in the dark.

“I’d say the ground definitely was harder going than it was at Christmas. They had no fresh ground, so it was probably tacky, holding ground, which wouldn’t be ideal.

“We just don’t know (what happened), but the horse had an off day and it won’t be until later in the week when we’ve finalised our checks on him.”

While Marine Nationale’s odds for the Arkle at Cheltenham next month obviously drifted in the aftermath of his defeat, he remains at the head of ante-post lists and Connell is hopeful he can show his true colours on his return to the Cotswolds.

He added: “Our intention is to just put a line through and head on to Cheltenham.

“He obviously showed a lot of speed in the Supreme last year, beating the winner from yesterday (Il Etait Temps) and Facile Vega (finished third on Saturday).

“Hopefully we’ll get spring ground at Cheltenham and he’s proven his liking for the track there.

“All these horses can get beat at some stage and unfortunately that was the case yesterday. We’ll just see if anything else emerges.”

It Etait Temps completed a dream hour for Danny Mullins when winning the Goffs Irish Arkle at Leopardstown, where Marine Nationale was a huge disappointment back in fifth place.

Having already won the opening two Grade Ones on Dancing City and Kargese, Mullins was riding full of confidence, but faced huge opposition in the shape of Barry Connell’s unbeaten Marine Nationale – not to mention Facile Vega, a stablemate of the Willie Mullins-trained winner.

It was Gordon Elliott’s Found A Fifty who ensured there was to be no hanging about and with Facile Vega on his heels, there was no letting up in the pace.

Sent off the 4-7 favourite, Marine Nationale had been settled in third, but his jumping was not as assured as on his debut and Il Etait Temps moved passed him down the back straight.

As the field turned in Marine Nationale briefly threatened to take a hand, but a bad mistake at the last sealed his fate.

Found A Fifty looked like he had done enough to hold on, but Il Etait Temps gamely dug in to win by a neck at 6-1.

The winner is now 5-1 from 14s for the Arkle at Cheltenham.

Marine Nationale maintained his unbeaten record with a near foot-perfect display on his debut over fences at Leopardstown.

Owned and trained by Barry Connell, the six-year-old won each of his two bumper starts and was three from three over hurdles last season, culminating in a brilliant victory in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

Encountering larger obstacles for the first time, having sidestepped a potential engagement at Navan last month on account of testing conditions, Marine Nationale was a 1-2 shot for the Paddy Power From The Horses Mouth Podcast Beginners Chase and those who took the cramped odds will have had few concerns for the duration of the two-mile-one-furlong contest.

Michael O’Sullivan’s mount raced zestfully on the front end from the drop of the flag and was particularly impressive in the jumping department.

The market leader was still hard on the bridle turning for home and another bold leap at the final obstacle put the seal on a comfortable eight-and-a-half-length victory over Firm Footings.

Paddy Power and Betfair were suitably impressed by the winner’s performance, trimming his odds for the Arkle at Cheltenham to 4-5 from 7-4, while Coral are marginally bigger at evens.

“I didn’t enjoy watching it at all. Last year we were coming in under the radar and this year we are favourite for the Arkle and expected to win,” said Connell.

“It’s a horse race and anything can go wrong, but the way he jumped today he’s vindicated what we have seen from his schooling – he’s an absolute natural.

“He’s only three-quarters fit today and Michael said he gave a little bit of a blow. He was a little gassy early on, but you couldn’t ask for any more than that.

“The ground is described as soft, but there is a bottom to it. He goes on every ground, but probably wouldn’t like heavy ground. He’s just class with a super engine.”

Marine Nationale looks set to return to Leopardstown for the Dublin Racing Festival before returning to Cheltenham in March.

Connell added: “He’ll come back here for the Irish Arkle, then the Arkle and hopefully on to Punchestown. The script writes itself this year.

“He’s the horse of a lifetime and I’m just blessed that he came into our yard. They are one in 10,000 these horses.

“He’s taken a bit longer this year to get fit than last year as he had a proper break for 10 weeks, but he’s a tall, athletic horse and comes to hand quick enough.

“If you look at the list of Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winners, there are plenty that just didn’t train on and that was an added pressure.

“He had a little wind operation before he went out at the end of last season and we put a tongue strap on him today. We just thought it might improve him a bit.”

Marine Nationale maintained his unbeaten record with a near foot-perfect display on his debut over fences at Leopardstown.

Owned and trained by Barry Connell, the six-year-old won each of his two bumper starts and was three from three over hurdles last season, culminating in a brilliant victory in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

Encountering larger obstacles for the first time, having sidestepped a potential engagement at Navan last month on account of testing conditions, Marine Nationale was a 1-2 shot for the Paddy Power From The Horses Mouth Podcast Beginners Chase and those who took the cramped odds will have had few concerns for the duration of the two-mile-one-furlong contest.

Michael O’Sullivan’s mount raced zestfully on the front end from the drop of the flag and was particularly impressive in the jumping department.

The market leader was still hard on the bridle turning for home and another bold leap at the final obstacle put the seal on a comfortable eight-and-a-half-length victory over Firm Footings.

Paddy Power and Betfair were suitably impressed by the winner’s performance, trimming his odds for the Arkle at Cheltenham to 4-5 from 7-4, while Coral are marginally bigger at evens.

Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner Marine Nationale will finally get his chasing career under way at Leopardstown over Christmas.

Barry Connell hosted the media at his County Kildare yard on Tuesday ahead of the big meeting over the festive period, and reported his stable star to be firmly on target for his seasonal return, having been delayed by soft ground.

Connell had hoped Marine Nationale would be contesting the Grade One Racing Post Novice Chase, but having yet to run over the bigger obstacles, he will take in a more modest event first.

When asked if all was in place for Leopardstown, Connell said: “Absolutely. His schooling has been 100 per cent. We schooled him twice on the grass at the Curragh and he’s a natural.

“His preparation has been good. He will do his last piece of work at the weekend and then, all systems should be go for Christmas.

“The original plan was to go to Navan, win a beginners chase there, then go for the Grade One at Christmas and then the Irish Arkle but we didn’t want to run him on heavy ground, so we had to forfeit the Grade One at Christmas and go for the beginners instead. But sure, look you have to adapt as circumstances change.

“Last year he won his maiden hurdle then went straight to a Grade One, so I don’t think that’s going to be an issue going to the Irish Arkle after his beginners.”

Connell has always had full faith in Marine Nationale – which was fully vindicated at Cheltenham – and says he knew from the first day the gelding entered the yard he was different.

“He is a one-off really, he is just an incredible athlete. From the first day we had him here, everything came easy to him,” said Connell.

“He is so relaxed as well which is a massive help. If you aren’t keen in a race you aren’t burning up excess diesel and you’ll have a horse for the finish.

“We didn’t want to start the season on heavy ground (at Navan). He can go to Leopardstown for his beginners and come back for the Dublin Racing Festival and then go on to Cheltenham hopefully.

“He is a light-framed horse. He has a preference for good ground, although he does go on soft.”

O’Connell used to ride his own horses and had them trained in various yards before setting out on his own.

“I’ve been a racegoer since I was one or two, my dad brought me racing since I was in the pram. And I’ve been to every meeting, went to Cheltenham, went to all the festivals when I was in school and college with friends and so forth. Then I bought a few horses and had them in training when I was in my late twenties, when I started working.

“I then took out an amateur licence and rode when I was 40 until I was 50. That allowed me to go around and have horses in training in a lot of different places and see how things are done. I always had it in the back of my head that I might like to try to do something like this. Really it was gathering the good staff together and putting the facilities in place, then buying the horses.

“I made loads of mistakes along the way, in terms of buying the wrong type of horse, having to deal with all the injuries and wear and tear that they have.

“We have a nice bunch of young horses there that we are getting going – probably 10 or 15 to run in bumpers and maiden hurdles. You know hopefully they will be the future.”

Marine Nationale’s chasing debut could be delayed until Leopardstown’s Christmas Festival due to the prevailing wet weather and testing conditions.

The six-year-old is unbeaten in five starts for owner-trainer Barry Connell and was last seen beating Facile Vega in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

He is set to embark on a career over the larger obstacles this term and Connell had been considering a beginners chase at Navan next weekend as a starting point, but is now having a change of heart.

“I won’t run him at Navan if the ground is like this,” he said at Naas on Sunday.

“He’s ground dependent and I might wait until Leopardstown at Christmas. I don’t want to give him a grueller at the start of the season.

“He’s a light-framed horse and he’d be lost on that ground today.

“If we have to wait until Leopardstown at Christmas that’s fine, as he went to Cheltenham last year on the back of two runs, so that’s not a big issue.

“There is a two mile and one (furlong) beginners at Leopardstown and then he could go to the Dublin Racing Festival and Cheltenham.”