‘Kettle’ comes to the boil as De Bromhead moves closer to rare treble

Coleman soars as Waterford trainer mops up more championship prizes

Put The Kettle On (left), under Aidan Coleman, trails Chacun Pour Soi (Paul Townend) over the last before going on to land yesterday’s Champion Chase at Cheltenham Festival. Photo: Hugh Routledge/Sportsfile

Michael Verney

March 18 2021 02:30 AM

No mare had landed the Champion Chase before Put The Kettle On (17/2) bravely held on in the two-mile chasing showpiece at Cheltenham yesterday and that success leaves Henry de Bromhead on the brink of another piece of racing immortality.

Honeysuckle did the business on Tuesday before Put The Kettle On defiantly kept up her end of the bargain and should either A Plus Tard or Minella Indo land tomorrow’s blue riband, De Bromhead will become the first to train winners of the Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase and Gold Cup in the same year.

You wouldn’t put it past the Waterford trainer after the past two days with Put The Kettle On ripping up the script to deny hot favourite Chacun Pour Soi (8/13 favourite) as Willie Mullins’ agonising wait for a Champion Chase continued.

Horses for courses is often thrown around in racing parlance and you’ll rarely find a better example than Put The Kettle On, the seven-year-old making it four from four at the Cotswolds to continue her unbeaten partnership with Aidan Coleman.

De Bromhead is the only Irish trainer to have prised the Champion Chase away from the British over the past decade with his third victory – following wins for Sizing Europe (2011) and Special Tiara (2017) – coming via a mare that never stops giving.

It looked for all the world that Chacun Pour Soi was going to swoop past her heading up the ‘Hill’, but he had to settle for third as Put The Kettle On kept responding to Coleman’s urgings to fend off Dan Skelton’s Nube Negra (11/1) by half a length.

“If I could bottle what she has I wouldn’t have to ride again, I could sell it and be a rich man!” Coleman beamed. “This mare is something else. It was very special and pulling up I was nearly emotional because we all love these horses and we do it day in, day out for them.

“When you ride something that loves it and wants to win as much as this, it’s just a pleasure, it brings you back to your roots and why you wanted to get into the game, and that’s for the love of the animal.”

Having become the 13th Arkle winner to follow up with Champion Chase glory, De Bromhead detailed her eccentricity as she is “just a bit crackers the whole time” with her “antics” not the easiest to manage.

The Knockeen handler also has a future superstar in the shape of Bob Olinger (6/4 favourite) after he oozed class when comfortably landing the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle under Rachael Blackmore.

Blackmore loomed large at the second last with Paul Nicholls, trainer of eventual third Bravemansgame (4/1), insisting that “the winner went by him like he’s a freak” before extending clear in superb fashion.

“He couldn’t have done it any better and he’s very exciting. He has so much pace. He’s built like a chaser and jumps like one, so we’d normally love going that way, but we’ll see,” De Bromhead outlined.

The middle part of the card was frustrating for Blackmore as she ended up on the deck twice, but she bounced back in typical style to judge the pace to perfection from the front aboard Sir Gerhard (84/40) in the Champion Bumper.

Having only moved from Gordon Elliott’s yard earlier this month, the six-year-old denied new stablemate Kilcruit (10/11 favourite) to hand Mullins an 11th victory in the Grade One – and Cheveley Park Stud’s third in succession – with the above average pair pulling well clear to leave a lasting impression.

“He looks to be a natural, he has a huge long stride,” Mullins said of the winner. “I have to say well done to the Cullentra team for preparing him and we were fortunate enough to get him.

"When he came he was very fit and I just wanted to get him settled in.”

A St Patrick’s Day to remember for the Irish finished with six winners from seven races as they surged into an 11-3 lead in the battle for the Prestbury Cup, but Mullins was made to sweat earlier in the card when Monkfish (1/4 favourite) survived a few scares to land the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase.

Mullins had plenty of anxious moments as Paul Townend’s mount didn’t display his usual exuberance and he did his best to take the final fence with him before going on to score by six and half lengths to remain unbeaten as a chaser.

“I think it’s the most nerve-racking race I’ve ever watched, 1/4 in a three-mile novice chase around Cheltenham is not good for the ticker, especially when he jumped the last the way he did,” a relieved Mullins said.

Aside from another epic victory for the incomparable Tiger Roll, the loudest cheer of the day was for shock Coral Cup winner Heaven Help Us as the 33/1 shot provided a first Festival winner for leading greyhound trainer Paul Hennessy and rookie jockey Richie Condon.

The Kilkenny duo were given a guard of honour by their Irish peers en route to the winners' enclosure after a superb front-running ride by 7lb claimer Condon saw the likeable mare, bred by her trainer within a mile of where Put The Kettle On was born, fly home by seven lengths.

Hennessy, a two-time English Greyhound Derby winner, only has three horses in training at his Rathvawn base and he couldn't hide his jubilation after a day he never envisaged.

“We took a chance, and wasn’t Richie brilliant? He’s never ridden round here before and he just took the race by the scruff of the neck. I said to him, ‘Richie, jump around and stay out of trouble — she will either stay or she won’t, and we think she’ll stay it’,” Hennessy said.

"She’s just amazing, I can’t describe her. We bred her, she was born at home and I’ve raised her. The places she’s brought us are just ridiculous. It’s amazing. There she goes, she’s my Enable.”