Marine Nationale will bid to end a “frustrating season” on a high when he defends his title in the William Hill Champion Chase at Punchestown on Tuesday.

Barry Connell’s pride and joy looked the new star of the two-mile division after following up an 18-length Queen Mother Champion Chase success with another decisive victory in this race last spring, but the current campaign has not gone according to plan.

He ran a remarkable race to be beaten just half a length on his seasonal debut at Leopardstown’s Christmas meeting after a major error at the second fence, while his comprehensive defeat at the hands of Majborough at the Dublin Racing Festival was put down to the testing conditions.

Connell was then left devastated after a late setback meant Marine Nationale was unable to bid for back-to-back Champion Chase wins at Cheltenham last month, but he feels there are plenty of positives ahead of his return to action in County Kildare.

“It’s been a very frustrating season so far. Leopardstown at Christmas didn’t work out after he landed on top of the second fence, lost a lot of ground and then nearly got back up and won, and then the ground was too heavy at the DRF which made it a non-event,” said the owner and trainer.

“He then got knocked out of Cheltenham with something small, but he’s back in good form, he’s been to Punchestown three times and won three times – a bumper, a maiden hurdle and the Champion Chase.

“I think spring ground and going there fresh are all positives for him. He’s won off long breaks before and he’s probably the easiest horse in the yard to get fit.

“It’s a good race and it will probably be one of the contests of the week, but we’ll only worry about our own horse and let everyone else worry about the rest of them. We’re happy with him and looking forward to it now.”

Of the decision to fit Marine Nationale with cheek pieces for the first time, Connell added: “The reason for that is just the start. If you go back to Cheltenham when we won the Champion Chase, everyone was talking about Jonbon losing his race at the start after putting his nose on the tape, but if you go back and look at it we jumped off alongside him.

“It was more marked at the DRF as he kind of wasn’t paying attention and looking around at the start, so we just felt a pair of cheekpieces might be an addition to him, to keep his mind concentrated down at the start, that’s all.

“You can’t afford to be giving ground away at the start, not in a Champion Chase. It’s going to be no hindrance to him, so we said we’d stick them on and hopefully that will sharpen him up a bit at the start.”

Connell’s charge taken on by a formidable quartet of Willie Mullins-trained horses, headed by Il Etait Temps, who claimed the Queen Mother Champion Chase crown in Marine National’s absence.

The champion trainer also saddles Majborough, who disappointed as an odds-on favourite at Cheltenham, as well as rank outsider Blood Destiny and the veteran Energumene, who claimed back-to-back wins in this race in 2022 and 2023 but is now very much in the twilight of his career at the age of 12.

Mullins said: “A lot of people put a line through Il Etait Temps after he fell in Ascot, so for him to come back and win the Champion Chase was great.

“To me, that victory was as much down to what I thought was the ride of the week in Cheltenham from Paul (Townend) as anything. I might be a bit biased as I’d be only looking at our own horses, but I thought his ride in the Champion Chase was just something else.

“The horse has come out of of Cheltenham very well. He and Majborough and Energumene have all done their final bits of work and I’m very happy with them.

“I think we still have to find the right way to get Majborough right. We’ve got to ask ourselves, ‘does he need a longer trip?’, I don’t know. There’s certain days he looks fantastic and other days he doesn’t. We haven’t got the finished product yet.

“The weather forecast wouldn’t be great for Energumene but if the ground is safe, he’ll run.”