Connell hoping for Marine success at DRF Barry Connell is bullish that Marine Nationale can turn the tables with Solness at the Dublin Racing Festival at the start of next month. The champion chaser survive a bad blunder at the second fence at Leopardstown over Christmas, recovering to run a cracker in the Paddy’s Rewards Club Chase. Despite almost losing Sean Flanagan at that early obstacle the French Navy gelding worked his way back into contention and only went down by half-a-length to Solness in a driving finish. The pair are set to face off again in the Grade 1 Ladbrokes Dublin Chase. In an interview with Dave Keena, Connell reflected on that incredible performance at Christmas:- Marine Nationale recovers from 'M50' blunder “Last season we were learning on the job, because he had missed his novice season, so this season we were expecting him to hit the ground running, and he did. “I suppose if there was one issue, he was maybe too fresh going there. That’s probably what happened at the second fence. “It was hard to see on the television angles what had happened, because it was a head-on picture, but Pat Healy’s picture in the Irish Field shows you exactly what happened. “He takes off a stride too early, had the scope to make it to the other side, but Sean was at the buckle end of the rein. “He ended up virtually coming to a standstill and I think he was lucky the Robcour horse was there, it kept Sean in the saddle. “He was actually turning around facing the wrong way, heading up the M50 into Dublin! “To get going again and be so competitive in the race, and only go down by a narrow margin, I think was an incredible run. “The Race IQ data, which they use on Racing TV, indicated that he lost 15 lengths at that particular obstacle. “I know the fences are there to be jumped but if he’d put in a clear round you’d have to feel he probably would have won. “I spoke to Sean and his reaction was ‘let’s get back in the race, because even though our chance is probably gone that we still wanted to get a run into him so that he would benefit from the run and hopefully come on. It would benefit him the next time when we go back to the DRF’. “I don’t think that he ever thought that he’d be in a position to get back contention. He had to do a lot of hard running because when he turned in he was only fourth and had five or six lengths to make up. “It was similar to Solness last year, when he got that run in front on his own. What I loved was how he battled, and put his head down. “People used to complain about his head carriage and all that kind of stuff. The horse just battled like a terrier all the way to the line. “Other than winning we were absolutely thrilled because it shows he has improved again from last year, which is what we felt going into the race. Trainer hails 'complete article' ahead of rematch “This year he is the complete article, he has all the jumping experience. “When he went to grass last year it was after two easy wins in Punchestown and Cheltenham, where he didn’t even get a tap of the stick. “Normally when a horse goes out to grass they have emptied the tank and need a break but he went out as fresh as a daisy and he’s come back in, mentally and physically, in a better place than he was last year. “I think before the race at Leopardstown people were still assuming that it was going to be a build like last year. “I’ve been saying to people ‘no it isn’t’ because he’s not a hard horse to get fit so he will be fit enough and he will have had all the experience that he needed, he got that from last year. “We were delighted and we’re looking forward now to three weeks time in Leopardstown. If he puts in a nice clear round hopefully he’ll go and win. Solness remains a tough nut to crack “We were very happy with the performance. For something to happen like that, that’s normally lights out and a pull up job. “I’m going racing a long time and I haven’t seen a situation where a horse is brought to a stop, he’s facing the wrong way and then turns around. “Especially a two-mile champion chase, if it was a three-and-a-half mile Midlands National maybe you have time to get back into it. “I think the form of the race is stacked up. Found A Fifty is a good yardstick, he won a Fortria and a Hilly Way and he’s 20 lengths behind. “Solness, to be fair, always runs really well at Leopardstown and he’s after going up another 5lb to 166. He’s a tough nut around there. “We gave him so much leeway when we made the mistake and were only beaten half-a-length. With a clear run I’d be hoping we should be able to win and hopefully win nicely.”
