Barry Connell is poised to unleash his stable stars over the festive period, with Good Land in line to step straight into Grade 1 company at Limerick.

The Grade One-winning novice hurdler was having his first outing for 633 days when he finished a respectable third behind Ile Atlantique on his chasing debut at Navan.

He holds an entry in the Guinness Faugheen Novice Chase and if the ground is soft enough he is likely to take his chance.

“He’s fine and he’s come out of the race well. It was a great run,” said Connell.

“It was quite a deep race, it rode more like a graded race than a beginners’ chase so we were quite happy.

“It’s a bit ground dependent with him given he’s had a history of leg trouble, he needs a bit of soft ground so that will depend on where we go next.

“He has an entry in the Grade 1 at Limerick over two-three. We don’t want to be going over three miles with him at Leopardstown. There’s a possibility we could go to the Grade 1.

“Other than that there is a beginners’ on New Year’s Day at Fairyhouse, but they had to put a lot of water on there ahead of the Drinmore meeting and the weather forecast for the next week or 10 days is dry.

“He was off for two years, won a bumper at Wexford and then his maiden hurdle and a Grade 1 after that so I’m not really a believer in the bounce factor, I don’t think.

“If the ground is appropriate we’ll probably let him take his chance at Limerick.”

William Munny, a top-class bumper horse last year, is set to make his hurdling debut.

“The plan with William Munny is to run him in the maiden hurdle at Leopardstown on the 26th (of December),” said Connell.

“I’d say it could be pretty strong this year because it’s been so dry and a lot of horses haven’t been out yet. In other years a lot of the good novices have already been out.

“He’s schooled well and is in good form and the Punchestown bumper he ran in is working out, he seems to be a natural.”

Connell’s other top-class horse is Marine Nationale, the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner from 2023 who returned from his own injury to finish second to Quilixios at Naas.

“Marine had a schooling session at Punchestown just because I was conscious his novice season was so truncated, he really only had two races,” said Connell.

“A second-season novice would normally have had four or five runs and been to one of the festivals.

“He was caught on the back foot at Naas due to the lack of experience from last year so in the circumstances I thought he ran well at Naas and he schooled really well at Punchestown. We’re really happy with him and he’ll be going for the Grade 1 (Paddy’s Rewards Club Chase).

“They are all one bit of work away and touch wood we’ll get them all there in one piece.”