Supreme star Marine Nationale to miss Punchestown festival but 'all options are open' for next season

Supreme Novices' Hurdle winner Marine Nationale will be put away for the season after being taken out at the latest entry stage of Tuesday's KPMG Champion Novice Hurdle at Punchestown.

The withdrawal of the Cheltenham winner leaves eight in contention for the Grade 1 contest, including Facile Vega, who finished second to Marine Nationale at the festival last month.

Unbeaten in five starts, Marine Nationale confirmed himself as one of the most exciting horses in training when he scored at Cheltenham and trainer Barry Connell has elected to give the six-year-old some time off after a busy season, which also included victory in the Royal Bond Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse.

Connell said: "Everything is 100 per cent with Marine but he's been on the go for the last 12 months without a break and he didn’t get a summer’s grass last year so we just decided it wouldn’t be fair to pitch him into another Grade 1. He's going off on his holidays. 

"This time last year he hadn’t run. His first run was at Punchestown in a bumper in May and he was on the go then all summer. He had a couple of mini breaks but I want to give him a proper break this year."

Marine Nationale flies home ahead of Facile Vega at CheltenhamCredit: GROSSICK RACING

There are plenty of options open to the son of French Navy, who like Constitution Hill, could be aimed at next year's Champion Hurdle or be sent over fences.

"We're looking forward to next season and we have all the options open between the Champion Hurdle route and novice chasing. We'll leave that decision until he comes back in again" said Connell.

Willie Mullins is left with four contenders in the 2m½f contest made up of Facile Vega, Diverge, Il Etait Temps and Impaire Et Passe. Gordon Elliott has the option of running Amir Kabir and Found A Fifty, while Joseph O'Brien and Oliver McKiernan could potentially rely on High Definition and No Looking Back respectively.

TG4 will screen a 30-minute preview of the Punchestown festival on Friday, April 21, at 9.05pm, which will analyse all of the Grade 1s in the week ahead. Denis Kirwan will be joined by Barry Geraghty and Jane Mangan and it will include features on trainers Mullins and John McConnell, as well as jockeys such as Mikey O'Sullivan, Aidan Kelly, Ben Harvey and Liam McKenna.

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