On Monday the Road to Cheltenham took me to a new destination. The Boherbaun Stables of Barry Connell.<\/p>\n
The trainer is there as the bus pulls into its allotted parking space. It\u2019s windy and there\u2019s drizzle in the air but he\u2019s ready to showcase the yard that he\u2019s built \u2013 and the horse who has taken him to the top of the racing tree.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re about to talk to a remarkable man, one who never sat on a horse until he was 30 but went on to ride over 30 winners in his own silks, including two at Cheltenham.<\/p>\n
Now he\u2019s turned trainer and nothing is left to chance. The former Stockbroker (who still keeps his hand in), has invested heavily in this project, and not just financially.<\/p>\n
There are three different types of accommodation for horses including a row of new open barns. They offer their residents shelter from the westerly winds as they spend their time in the open air. Others are in the courtyard, a more traditional set-up at first glance, but all have open windows at the rear. It\u2019s about airflow, keeping horses healthy and happy.<\/p>\n
And winning.<\/p>\n
Marine Nationale<\/a> has done that twice already at Cheltenham, in the 2023 Sky Bet Supreme and last season\u2019s BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase.<\/p>\n He\u2019s wearing the rug for that success as he poses for photographs and your mind immediately goes back to that moment last season. To the raw emotion that came flooding out as the horse who more than any other helped drive the career of Michael O\u2019Sullivan forward won the day-two feature only weeks after the rider tragically lost his life following a fall at Thurles<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe day before we went, Michael\u2019s girlfriend came here and we sat upstairs with Jennifer Pugh who is the chief medical officer and she just wanted to spend 10 minutes in the stable with him (pointing to Marine Nationale) on her own,\u201d Connell recalled.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was hugely emotional. Michael won his first bumper on him at Punchestown. I didn\u2019t have an amateur at the time, and he rang for the ride and had ridden one horse before for me in a point-to-point.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, I said, \u2018come in and start riding out a bit\u2019 and we could just see the talent he had. So, I sat him down one day and said look, he\u2019d already done his college degree and was a good age, so I said you should turn pro.<\/p>\n \u201cHe did. We put him on Enniskerry who won a Grade Three at Roscommon, and that was his first ride in a Graded race. Then I put him on Marine in the Royal Bond, a Grade One, and he won that and went on to Cheltenham to win the Supreme.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you’re young and you don\u2019t know what can go wrong it\u2019s great, you can just filter out the pressure, but he was a tremendous talent. He ended up being champion conditional rider. His death was an incredible tragedy, but I thought racing rallied around and were very supportive of his family and I think it was great the race (Supreme) was named in his honour. But the Wednesday was a very emotional day.”<\/p>\n Marine National is firmly on track to defend his crown next month but goes there off the back of two defeats this season.<\/p>\n The first came after a shuddering mistake at the second fence of the Paddy\u2019s Rewards Club Chase<\/a> over Christmas. Sean Flanagan worked miracles to keep the partnership intact that day and they went on to finish second to Solness.<\/p>\n But back at Leopardstown in the Ladbrokes Dublin Chase<\/a>, they were never able to lay a glove on Majborough.<\/p>\n In deep ground, Willie Mullins\u2019 charge ran and jumped his rivals ragged to win by 19 lengths. But Connell is ready for the rematch. And you knew he would be.<\/p>\n \u201cI live near Leopardstown and I\u2019d say in the last 25 years I\u2019ve never seen anything like it. It was the heaviest ground I\u2019ve seen up there that day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe easy thing would have been not to run him, but we needed to get a run into him somewhere and I didn\u2019t think it was going to do him any harm, but he was never in a rhythm, in the first part of the race he was out of his comfort zone.<\/p>\n \u201cTo his credit when they slowed it down halfway down the back, he started to get into it again but looked like he was going to be a bad third jumping the last but stayed on and got going again.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019ll see a different horse in March and that\u2019s not just my opinion again, it\u2019s backed up by the formbook and what he does when he goes there every year. He\u2019s eight, in the prime of his life, so we\u2019re looking forward to going back.<\/p>\n \u201cMajborough put in an excellent performance, I think his RaceiQ Jump Index was completely off the radar. It was 9.5. 8 is a good Jump Index, not only did he not make any mistakes but he met every fence spot on. The two soft-ground horses were Majborough and Found A Fifty, and both of them outperformed.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd the two good-ground horses were us and Solness. He pulled-up and we got going in the end to finish second, but I\u2019d put a line through the run.”<\/p>\n Clearly handicappers can\u2019t \u2013 or wont. Timeform, for example, raised Majborough\u2019s rating to 179, the highest for any jumps horse in training<\/a> and 12lb above Marine Nationale\u2019s own perch.<\/p>\n But Connell isn\u2019t convinced that they\u2019ll need to hit that sort of figure to take their revenge.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we look at official ratings, Majborough is 174. We were 170 but dropped a pound to 169. So, he\u2019s run to 174 in absolutely perfect condition for him, making no mistake on a galloping track that suits him,\u201d the trainer continued.<\/p>\n \u201cOn official ratings we\u2019ve five pounds to make up and a number of factors will come into play at Cheltenham. Assuming we get it, there\u2019s spring ground. Then there\u2019s the Cheltenham factor, he\u2019s been there and done it twice.<\/p>\n \u201cThere isn\u2019t that much ground to make up. On the day we were beaten 19 lengths, and you\u2019d say ‘how are we going to reverse that?’ But they were extreme conditions and my horse has won on summer soft ground before, but just wouldn\u2019t go a yard on that (at Leopardstown), and didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to support the meeting because in the past it was a stepping-stone to Cheltenham but it\u2019s becoming a really important meeting in itself now. When I walked the track on the morning, it didn\u2019t walk as bad as it rode.<\/p>\n \u201cBut Sean (Flanagan) told me afterwards it just rode very heavy, and the horse couldn\u2019t get any traction. But there\u2019s no harm done and we\u2019ve got a run into him. He won\u2019t do much now and will just have a couple of bits of work before he goes.<\/p>\n \u201cHe rode out this morning which is the first time he\u2019s had a saddle on since the Dublin Chase and he\u2019s come back, eaten everything. There\u2019s not a bother. So, we haven\u2019t done any damage.”<\/p>\n So, onto Cheltenham, the title defence and rematch. There\u2019s confidence in the Marine Nationale camp that borders on becoming infectious.<\/p>\n As he circles around the yard in front us, Connell adds: \u201cHe\u2019s a special animal. He\u2019s not even once in a lifetime, he\u2019s once in 10,000 lifetimes. We\u2019re very lucky he\u2019s landed in our yard here and they say with horses, the good ones train themselves.<\/p>\n \u201cThe main thing is you don\u2019t get in their way, and you don\u2019t do anything stupid. Luckily we haven\u2019t. We might have done by running him the other day but the way he\u2019s come out of it, we might have got away with it. I think we have.”<\/p>\n And with that Marine Nationale returns to his box. The next time we\u2019ll see him is at Prestbury Park where he\u2019ll face all the Festival and his rivals can throw at him.<\/p>\n Connell has had five runners at the meeting over the years and only once has he had to ‘turn right’ to where the unplaced horses unsaddle.<\/p>\n No, he doesn\u2019t get in their way or do anything stupid. Roll on the Champion Chase.<\/p>\n More from Sporting LifeSafer gambling<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline \/ GamCare<\/a> on 0808 8020 133.<\/p>\n Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org<\/a> and gamblingtherapy.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Monday the Road to Cheltenham took me to a new destination. 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