Put The Kettle On proved a 16/1 winner of the Gr1 Racing Post Arkle Challenge Trophy for trainer Henry De Bromhead and owners the Dermody family of County Kilkenny at Cheltenham on Tuesday.
Their mare, who was ridden by Aidan Coleman, won by one and a half lengths from Fakir D’oudairies (3/1), with Rouge Vif (9/1) another 18 lengths back in third. The unplaced 5/2 favourite was Notebook, a stablemate of the winning mare.
Put The Kettle On leads the way
De Bromhead said of Put The Kettle On, the first mare to win the ‘Arkle’ since Anaglogs Daughter in 1980: “I’m delighted, especially for the Dermody family, and Mary Dermody who is such a good owner. Aidan rode her brilliantly and said she attacked every fence, and she had the course-and-distance form from last year [she won the G2 Racing Post Arkle Trial at The November Meeting] so wasn’t to be underestimated.
“Notebook was our more fancied runner, but this mare keeps improving. For a mare that won a 116 beginners’ chase at Kilbeggan she’s come a long way. She had been busy all last summer and then topped it off with victory here in November, so we said we would back off her, give her a break and then come here. We thought about the novices’ handicap chase at the end of today over two and a half miles, but felt two miles would suit and opted for this race. She seems to handle any ground and Aidan said she loved this ground.
“Notebook was disappointing, and I just noticed that when Cash Back dropped out we dropped out too. It crossed my mind that they had a tough race together in the Irish Arkle at Leopardstown. Notebook’s best form is on better ground, and while we were a bit unlucky with the delayed start he behaved very well.”
Mary Dermody, who was at the racecourse with her sons John and Michael, explained the mare’s name by saying: “It’s just something that is commonly said at home. People come to visit and we say, ‘put the kettle on’. We chose Henry to train for us because he is a winner. I’ve always liked horses and we’ve bred a few, but we’ve never had one as good as this.”
Her son, Michael said: “We drink a lot of tea at home! Henry has done a fantastic job but we didn’t think we would end up here at The Festival. She was under the radar, but we were confident she would run a big race.”
The Dermodys bought their mare for €20,000 as an unbroken three-year-old. De Bromhead said: “Every horse Mary has is mad, and that includes another mare we had before that who was as mad as a hatter. This mare was prancing around at Goffs [the bloodstock sales company] and standing up on her hind legs, and my wife Heather and I looked at each other and said, ‘That’s the mare for Mary!'”
