BARRY Connell has no fitness concerns for stable star Marine Nationale as the dual Grade 1-winning chaser makes his seasonal return in the Paddy’s Rewards Club Chase (1.12) at Leopardstown on December 27th.

The eight-year-old, who was so impressive when winning the Queen Mother Champion Chase and Punchestown Champion Chase, was due to run last month, but the weather had other plans.

“He was due to have a spin at Navan earlier in the season, but the track was waterlogged so we didn’t run him,” Connell explained.

“He’s been ready to run for a while, we’ve had no hold-ups with him, his preparation has been very straightforward and he seems to be in great form.”

Sean Flanagan’s mount placed on his first three starts last season, but Connell insists that was purely down to lack of experience, rather than peaking later in the season. “The reason for that is he’d missed most of his novice season the year before, he’d only had two runs as a novice,” the trainer commented.

“Last year, when we were going into open company, he was short on experience and when you’re going into open company, particularly in that grade, in the two-mile Champion Chase grade, where it’s all about jumping with speed and accuracy, we knew it was going to take a couple of runs for him to get up to speed. He progressed nicely for the first three runs he had and once he had the experience, when he went to Cheltenham and Punchestown, he was really good.”

Runs well fresh

The French Navy gelding made an impressive chasing debut on this card as a six-year-old, on his first start since March and had previously run well fresh when winning the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle on his first start since December.

“He’s an easy horse to get fit, he’s a light-framed horse and very clear-winded,” Connell added.

“There’s a number of times throughout his career that we’ve given him a sizeable break - after he ran the Royal Bond, he had a break of about four months. So, he runs well when he’s fresh.”

Marine Nationale currently heads the market with Willie Mullins’ unpredictable five-year-old Majborough, who disappointed on return earlier this month. When asked whether he rated Majborough as his biggest danger, Connell reported that he gives little time thinking about the competition.

“It’s whatever turns up on the day and runs well,” he said.

“All we can do is get our own guy as good as we can get, and then let everyone else worry about their own horse.”