Reigning Champion Chase winner Marine Nationale withdrawn from Cheltenham title defence

Reigning Champion Chase winner Marine Nationale will not defend his BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase title at Cheltenham after trainer and owner Barry Connell discovered the nine-year-old was "very sore through his neck" on Tuesday morning. Vets attended the yard and administered pain relief, but Connell said the timing of that treatment left the horse "out of time with withdrawal times", forcing the late scratch.

Connell described the scene at his stable when connections went to check the horse. "When we went to see him this morning he was very sore through his neck. I’m not sure, but he may have got cast (in his box)," he told the Press Association. He added that the vet "put him on pain (relief) medication and he’s just feeling very sorry for himself" and acknowledged the cruel timing: "If it happened a couple of weeks ago we might have been all right, but we’re just out of time."

Marine Nationale arrives at Cheltenham as the reigning two-mile champion off a dominant victory 12 months ago when the nine-year-old "claimed the two-mile crown with a brilliant 18-length victory," and he is also a past Punchestown winner and a 2023 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner. This season he has twice finished second, beaten by Solness at Leopardstown at Christmas and by Majborough at the Dublin Racing Festival, form that had left him priced around 2-1 in ante-post markets to become a three-time festival winner before the withdrawal.

The immediate market ramifications are stark. Majborough has been made the general 8-11 favourite for next week’s Champion Chase, with Dan Skelton-trained L'Eau Du Sud 7-2 and Il Etait Temps, the Tingle Creek winner trained by Willie Mullins, 4-1. Racing Post betting editor Keith Melrose framed the reshuffle bluntly: "Majborough's main rivals now made of twigs rather than flesh," a line that captures the shock to ante-post backers who had hoped Marine Nationale would reverse recent defeats.

Connell said he remains optimistic about the horse’s future targets. "We think he might have been cast... It's just one week out of the 52 of the year he's not sound – it's horrendous luck. Hopefully we have him back for Punchestown," he said, while USA Today reported the stable's belief that "we don’t think it’s anything too serious and we’ll hopefully have him back for Punchestown."

The withdrawal of a nine-year-old champion who has twice struck at major festivals is being called a major blow for the Cheltenham Festival, reshaping both the race narrative and the betting picture with a week to run.