Put The Kettle On
17th-Mar-2021
(Message of 11th November 2020)
I think that it is worthwhile backing Put The Kettle On for the Champion Chase now, before she is declared to run in the Shloer Chase at Cheltenham on Sunday.
I don’t think that Henry de Bromhead’s mare got the credit that she deserved for winning the Arkle at Cheltenham in March, possibly because she was a 16/1 shot, possibly because she raced during the summer, and she was rated just 144 going into the Arkle.
But she raced over two and a half miles during the summer. She was a different horse when they dropped her to two miles for the first time over fences and sent her to Cheltenham for the Arkle Trial in November. She won that race well, and she had the now 164-rated Rouge Vif eight lengths behind her in third.
She was very good in the Arkle in March too. She got into a lovely racing and jumping rhythm for Aidan Coleman, and that was even with Cash Back for company, on her inside. Her jumping was superb, she had all her rivals except Fakir D’Oudairies on the stretch before they reached the home turn, and she stayed on well to win by a length and a half from Fakir D’Oudairies.
I thought at the time that Fakir D’Oudairies might have beaten her if he hadn’t made that bad mistake at the second last fence, but actually, he got close to her on the run-in, and it appeared that she was finding more. She may have won with a little more in hand than the bare winning margin.
Fakir D’Oudairies is very good – and hopefully he will be even better as he steps up in trip – and she was very good in beating him.
She loves Cheltenham, it suits her style of racing and it rewards her fluent jumping. She is two for two there, both wins gained on the Old Course, the course on which the Champion Chase is run. Also, the time that she clocked in winning the Arkle was almost two seconds faster than the time that Politologue clocked in winning the Champion Chase the following day, over the same course and distance, on similar ground. Politologue did carry 13lb more than Put The Kettle On carried, but 7lb of that was the mares’ allowance, which she will get in the Champion Chase as well.
The top horses in the Champion Chase market are not invincible. Altior is going to be 11 in March, and Moscow Flyer is the only horse aged older than 10 to win the race since Skymas won it in 1977. Defi Du Seuil has to bounce back from a disappointing run in the Champion Chase. Chacun Pour Soi is very good, but he is fragile.
Put The Kettle On is only six and she has raced just six times over fences, so she has the potential to improve again this season.
PUT THE KETTLE ON WON (ADV 16/1, SP 17/2)
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