Marine Nationale burst some equally large bubbles when maintaining his unblemished record in the Grade One Bar One Racing Royal Bond Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse.
Trained by Barry Connell and ridden by Michael O'Sullivan, the Punchestown maiden winner was facing a daunting challenge up in class against a quartet from the powerhouse yard of Willie Mullins, plus Gordon Elliott's Irish Point and the well-regarded Path D'oroux from the Gavin Cromwell yard.
However, after travelling sweetly in mid-pack for much of the two-mile contest, Marine Nationale (11/2) latched onto the leaders turning in and came to challenge Irish Point (18/1) at the final flight after 10/11 favourite Champ Kiely started to back out of it under Paul Townend.
A sloppy leap at the last left Marine Nationale with another mount to climb, with Irish Point still holding the initiative in the hands of Jack Kennedy, but the Connell-owned five-year-old was galvanised on the run-in to just get up in the shadow of the post, ultimately beating Irish Point a head, with four lengths back to Ashroe Diamond (13/2) - another representing Mullins - in third.
Marine Nationale is now unbeaten from four career starts under Rules, two in bumpers and two over obstacles - all at or close to the minimum trip.
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Paddy Power and Betfair cut the winner to 7/1 from 16/1 for the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham in March, with the sponsors going 8/1. Sky Bet also make Marine National 8/1 from 20 for the Ballymore Novices' Hurdle over two and a half miles.
Sky Bet's Michael Shinners said: "The Royal Bond is always a good guide to the Irish novice hurdlers and although Facile Vega was wildly impressive on Saturday, Marine Nationale has definitely put his name in the hat for some of the major spring prizes by winning on Sunday. We make him 8/1 for the Sky Bet Supreme and the same price for the Ballymore. In addition, I was quite impressed by Irish Point who is 12/1 for the Sky Bet Supreme and the Ballymore."
Connell said: “He travelled away, jumped and settled. He nearly threw it away at the last with a bunny hop, but he dug in. It was the first time he’s ever been off the bridle in his life, and he had to be tough.
“I didn’t know what he’d do off the bridle. Sometimes these bridle horses, they don’t find a whole lot, but you’d love the way he battled and toughed it out. I’m thrilled to have him.
“I thought the ground was gone for him today, to be honest. He had been running away on good ground, and this was the softest ground he had.
“We ride him for speed. He’s actually a flat-bred horse, so we were always going to sit in behind the fancied ones and have a go. There’s no point in setting up a target. He’ll improve again from that, and is a genuine Grade One horse now, so happy days.”
Connell has enjoyed plenty of big-race success as an owner over the years with the likes of The Tullow Tank, Foxrock and Our Conor, but he was thrilled to have trained a Grade One scorer.
“It’s brilliant. I’ve ridden Cheltenham winners, I’ve owned Cheltenham winners, but this is a different league altogether.
“I would imagine we will skip Leopardstown at Christmas as he’s had a hard race there, and we’ll probably go Dublin Racing Festival and the Supreme.”
O’Sullivan was notching his first Grade One win and told RTE: “I can’t believe it really. He is just a savage horse. Thanks very much to Barry and all the team at home for putting their faith in me. It went fairly smoothly and I just said I’d ride him for luck down the inside.
“I was crying all morning when the rain was falling as he is a French Navy horse. We thought we might get good ground or even yielding, but we didn’t get either.
"It was only his second run over hurdles and he was a bit novicey over one or two but just travelled everywhere and I just kept riding him and saving him for as long as I could.
“In fairness to the horse, he missed the last and still picked up at the back of it and went all the way to the line. He probably won with a small bit in hand. I didn’t wing either of the last two and if he did, he would have won even better."
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