Solness repeated his victory of 12 months in the past within the Paddy’s Rewards Membership Chase when seeing off a very gallant Marine Nationale in an exhilarating race at Leopardstown.
Solely half a size separated them on the line within the Grade One function, however the Barry Connell-trained Marine Nationale and Sean Flanagan had labored wonders mid-race to maintain their partnership intact after a dreadful blunder.
It was to their credit score they arrived virtually upsides Solness (8-1), with Majborough simply behind, on the last fence, but it surely was Joseph O’Brien’s Solness, with Sam Ewing changing the stood down J J Slevin, who prevailed for the second 12 months in a row.
“He’s very good here in Leopardstown,” mentioned O’Brien, who went near back-to-back King George VI Chase wins at Kempton Park on Boxing Day with Banbridge.
“I do not know what it’s, we are inclined to hold him broad on the lookout for the higher floor and he likes being in numerous house and it appears to work.
“My coronary heart goes out to J J who was stood down with concussion after the final race. He is finished all of the laborious work on the horse, however Sam gave him a implausible journey.
“The horse is as powerful as nails, and it was an amazing race. It was an amazing run from Marine Nationale after making that mistake early.
“He’ll come back here for the Dublin Racing Festival. The track suits him as he likes to be ridden aggressively and the drier ground here.”
Paddy Energy reduce the winner to 20-1 from 50s for the Champion Chase in March, however Marine Nationale was the massive mover, sharing favouritism at 11-4 with Il Etait Temps from 7-2. Majborough was pushed out to 8-1 from 5s.
Connell, who additionally owns Marine Nationale, couldn’t have been happier along with his returning champion, bar successful.
“I couldn’t really see what happened with his mistake and I haven’t seen a replay yet,” he mentioned.
“Sean said he just came up out of his hands through exuberance and he caught it with his hind legs and landed steeply.
“He ended up dealing with the fallacious means, it seemed like he was heading down the M50 to Dublin. I’ve by no means seen a horse face the fallacious course earlier than and I have been going racing a very long time.
“You never know how much it takes out of a horse making ground up, but he did make it up quickly after losing a lot of momentum. It must have taken an effort, though.
“Outdoors of successful the race we had been thrilled and I feel the horse is beginning to get the credit score he deserves now.
“We’ve a nice gap to the DRF (Dublin Racing Festival) now and then on to Cheltenham. We know what we have and I wouldn’t swap him.
“Truthful play to Solness, he is a 10lb higher horse at Leopardstown it appears, however we all know our lad loves Cheltenham, he is been there twice and bolted up twice.”
