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Put The Kettle On 10/1 for Champion Chase Glory After Third Cheltenham Win

Submitted by ParadeRing on Thu, 03/12/2020 - 19:09
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Put The Kettle On 10/1 for Champion Chase Glory After Third Cheltenham Win


Some horses just love running at Cheltenham Racecourse, and Henry De Bromhead’s Irish-trained and Emerald Isle bred mare Put The Kettle On certainly fits that description.

In the space of 12 months, she has come over to the home of British jumps horse racing and won three times in as many starts at the track. An unfancied winner of both the Arkle Trial and the Arkle Challenge Trophy itself for novice chasers at the 2020 Cheltenham Festival in the spring, she wasn’t missed by bookmakers as she prepared for her hat-trick.

Although another course specialist in Defi Du Seuil was made favourite for the Grade 2 Shloer Chase, he came into the race at the November Meeting with questions to answer. He didn’t run with his usual zest at the Festival for Philip Hobbs and was again flat with jockey Richard Johnson pulling him up.

 

Put The Kettle On took full advantage of Defi Du Seuil’s malaise as she reeled in Duc Des Genievres, who made most on his debut for new trainer Paul Nicholls, on the run-in to win going away and maintain her perfect record around Prestbury Park. She once again found more when asked up the famous hill by jockey Aidan Coleman for a game victory.

Based on this year’s Cheltenham Festival results and 2021 tips & predictions, odds of 10/1 about Put The Kettle On for the Queen Mother Champion Chase come with plenty of positives. With its undulations, the track does not suit every horse but that clearly isn’t an issue with this one.

There is also the strength in depth of potential Champion Chase opposition to consider. With Defi Du Seuil disappointing on his last two starts now, he is a difficult horse to assess, while dual race winner and four-time Cheltenham Festival scorer Altior isn’t getting any younger.


"Altior" (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Carine06

He will be 11 if bidding to regain the Champion Chase after missing his own hat-trick bid with a last-minute injury that ruled Nicky Henderson’s stable star out of the Festival in 2020. Altior wasn’t the only high-profile absentee from the race in March either.

Irish master trainer Willie Mullins has never tasted Champion Chase success at Cheltenham. He had a major hope in Chacun Pour Soi last season, only for the horse to pick up an abscess and also miss the race.

This left a decimated field to contest the feature two-mile steeplechase of the Festival. Politologue was the one to profit from those missing out and Defi Du Seuil failing to fire for Paul Nicholls, who believes the key to his horse is bringing him to Cheltenham fresh.

Rouge Vif, who was a staying on third behind Put The Kettle On in the Arkle, has also advertised his claims of a possible Champion Chase tilt by winning a handicap off topweight over course and distance in October. Further improvement is needed, however.

Unless a progressive horse like Rouge Vif or Greaneteen, another Nicholls inmate who won the Haldon Gold Cup at Exeter, does progress, then Put The Kettle On is a major contender. As a mare, she gets a 7lb sex allowance from the geldings which may make her unbeatable in open races around Cheltenham.