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At the moment of his greatest racing triumph, after a lifetime in the sport as a spectator, an amateur jockey, and owner and now a trainer, Barry Connell’s thoughts after Marine Nationale’s victory in the Queen Mother Champion Chase on Wednesday turned, immediately and inevitably, to Michael O’Sullivan, who rode the same horse to victory in the Supreme Novice Hurdle here two years ago and died last month, from injuries sustained in a fall.
“The obvious thing is how raw and poignant it’s all been over the last four weeks,” Connell said. “Michael and myself went on a journey with this horse, he rode him in all his races in his novice season over hurdles. He started as a 7lb claimer with us and I asked him to turn pro, and he ended up winning three Grade Ones as a claimer and was leading rider [with two wins] on the first day [at Cheltenham two years ago].
“It’s an absolute tragedy that he’s left us but he’s a record that he can be really proud of, he’s achieved more in a lifetime than a lot of riders who ride a lot longer ever achieve. So I’d like to dedicate this win to Michael and to his girlfriend Charlotte, who was here with the horse before when we were saddling up. Our hearts go out to all of his family and friends and his girlfriend, racing is a great community and gets behind people when things like this happen.”
Sean Flanagan, Wednesday’s winning rider, also paid tribute to O’Sullivan’s role in Marine Nationale’s success.
“First and foremost, his family obviously have to find it very hard,” Flanagan said. “All the jockeys in Ireland, the UK and in the world have been under a cloud for the last couple of weeks.
“I’m only the man that steered him round today. Michael is the man who made him what he is. He will never be forgotten for that.”
Connell and Flanagan’s words encapsulated the emotion on an afternoon when, incredibly, O’Sullivan’s double on the opening day of the festival in 2023, with Marine Nationale and then Jazzy Matty in the Fred Winter Handicap Hurdle, was replicated on Wednesday’s card when Jazzy Matty stormed home in the Grand Annual Handicap Chase just 40 minutes after the Champion Chase.
Marine Nationale’s victory, meanwhile, came at the end of another dramatic race at this year’s meeting, and at the expense of another beaten odds-on favourite in Nicky Henderson’s Jonbon.
Jonbon is among the most popular and consistent horses in training, and went into Wednesday’s race with a record of 17 wins from 20 starts. All three of his defeats, however, had come at Cheltenham, and the track got the better of him once again. He was slow to stride from a standing start, then took off a half-stride too soon at the fifth-last and all but catapulted Nico de Boinville from the saddle as he came down on top of the fence.
De Boinville tried to work his way back into contention but the damage had been done, and Marine Nationale and Quilixios, the 40-1 outsider of the eight-strong field, had drawn clear as they raced towards the final fence. Flanagan appeared to be travelling best, but Quilixios was still alongside the winner when he hit the fence and fell, gifting an easy win to Marine Nationale as Jonbon stayed on into a distant second place.
It has been a tough two days for Nicky Henderson, Jonbon’s trainer, following the fall of Constitution Hill, the favourite, in Tuesday’s Champion Hurdle, and the trainer suggested the standing start – on an afternoon when the riders seemed almost incapable of getting away first time – had put Jonbon on the back foot from the off.
“He missed his kick at the start,” Henderson said, “and he was then not where he wanted to be. Nico was saying that the start was all contributory. They were right on the tape and it went straight across his face.
“The next thing was, he was chasing them, and he likes to be up there ramming it, but there we go. However, he has flown home.”
Jonbon is priced up at around 10-1 to finally end his festival hoodoo in this race next year, but Marine Nationale, who is a year younger, seems the likelier of the two to be back as a major contender in 12 months’ time, to continue his trainer’s love affair with the two-mile chasing championship.
“He travels, he jumps, he has everything you’d want in a champion chaser,” Connell said. “I’ve been coming racing here since I was a student in the 1980s, just as a punter, and it’s the one race that I always wanted to win.
“It’s pure, unadulterated, on-the-edge speed. The horses finish quickly, they don’t finish tired like in the Gold Cup. It won’t sink in for a long time.”
