Marine Nationale won the Champion Chase at Punchestown | report and replay

Having won the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival on his sixth chase start, this ready defeat of Captain Guinness ought to cement Marine Nationale's position as the top two-mile chaser but the day one feature didn't pan out as many neutral observers had hoped.

Brilliant Ryanair Chase winner Fact To File was made the 11/10 favourite despite dropping back to two miles but Mark Walsh could be seen niggling his mount - held-up towards the rear - from around four out and Walsh was quick to ease Fact To File down with all chance gone three from home.

Solness had taken the field along from Captain Guinness but his lead was only ever a length or two and he never got away from quite a closely grouped pack. A bad mistake at the final ditch didn't significantly halt his progress and he remained in front while others bided they time.

They included El Fabiolo who was in the process of running a much-improved race on this return to racing right-handed only to crash out when challenging at the second last. That left Marine Nationale with the relatively straightforward task of picking up the two front-runners which he duly did, winning by seven lengths.

Owner / trainer Barry Connell, whose yard is just 20 minutes from Punchestown, has never hidden his belief in Marine Nationale and told Racing TV: "He's the horse of a lifetime, it's wonderful.

"It seems like he's been around forever but that's only his twelfth ever run; we've had him since he was a four-year-old, two bumper wins, three hurdle wins - including a Royal Bond and a Supreme - and then he had a truncated beginners chase season, won his first one and then he got a suspensory injury.

"We had to give him time off and this season was a slow burn because we had to catch up experience wise, jumping wise. So he was coming the whole time and we were happy he was improving 10 lbs.

"I was ridiculously bullish the first time [ahead of the Supreme] and I said I won't do that again. I'm reading in the paper all week about Fact To File and how we can't beat him and I said look 'I can't talk for anybody else's horse, all I can tell you is our horse has improved substantially since he's come back from Cheltenham and I think he has all the attributes you want for a Champion Chaser.

Sights set on historic Badsworth Boy

"Badsworth Boy was 8, 9 and 10 when he won three. He's the only horse in the history of the race since 1959 that's won three. All the marquee horses, Master Minded, Sprinter Sacre, Altior, they all only ever won two. When we got the little green plaque from Cheltenham to bring home the handyman was centring it on the outside of the stable and I said 'hang on, hold fire there and leave a bit of room for the next couple of years'.

"I just know how good this horse is. I spend a lot of time alone with him in his box. You might think I'm nuts but there's an energy that comes off this horse and I know when he's right and he knows he won the Champion and he came here with a swagger and he just dawdled around, popped away and popped away, gave a little squeeze and picked up and if anything had come to him, he would have gone again.

"It's great to have a champion horse trained in Kildare."

Jockey Sean Flanagan added: "It's phenomenal really, he's won it so well today. There was no stage I felt like I was under pressure.

"I was probably closer to him [Solness] at all stages today than I was at Leopardstown at Christmas but I think our lad has just sharpened a bit; he couldn't go any faster at Leopardstown and today he was doing it easily and at times I was probably taking him back a little bit.

"I was a little bit anxious around the bend when I saw JJ [Slevin, aboard Solness] giving a couple of fences a right couple of thumps and I was thinking should I move out or not but I just stayed where I was and he's a very straightforward horse to ride now. I just had enough horse and off the final bend and I went left and then Paul tipped up and I'd gone from half nudging down to the second last to full of horse down to the last and he's won idling again.

"I've never ridden one like him and he's a pleasure to do anything with so you can understand why [Connell is bullish about Marine Nationale] and he's fully entitled to be. He's probably been more bullish about him because he's always been a bit overlooked.

"Barry and Roger and Gara deserve a lot of credit. They've left a bit in the locker going to Dublin at Christmas and going to Dublin for the DRF. They said he would come forward every time and they said after Cheltenham he would come forward again and he has.

More from Sporting Life

• Free bets
• Racecards
• Fast results
• Full results and free video replays
• Horse racing news
• Horse racing tips
• Horse racing features
• Download our free iOS and Android app
• Football and other sports tips
• Podcasts and video content

Safer gambling

We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.

If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.

Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.