Barry Connell eyeing Champion Chase history with Marine Nationale as trainer warns rivals 'there is so much more to come'

Barry Connell is dreaming big with Marine Nationale, so big that emulating Badsworth Boy's amazing hat-trick of Champion Chases is already on his radar. Before then, his eight-year-old will head to the Punchestown festival at the end of April to try to repeat last Wednesday's heroics.

Marine Nationale was the widest-margin winner at last week's festival and his 18-length romp was a glorious justification of Connell's unwavering faith in the 2023 Supreme Novices' Hurdle winner, who came of age over fences back at his happiest hunting ground. 

Things didn't go Jonbon's way in the Champion Chase, and Quilixios came down at the last when upsides, but both of those would have had to do something extraordinary to stop Marine Nationale making it two from two at Cheltenham.