Another Henry De Bromhead trained mare, Put The Kettle On, secured championship honours at Cheltenham on Wednesday.
Twenty four hours after Honeysuckle’s Champion Hurdle romp, her stable companion embodied grit in landing the Champion Chase.
Headed by the odds-on favourite Chacun Pour Soi at the last, Put The Kettle On wouldn't be bowed and rallied under jockey Aidan Coleman to become the first mare to land the two-mile crown.
On the back of Bob Olinger's earlier triumph in the Ballymore Novices Hurdle it continued De Bromhead's sizzling festival form which sees him piling the pressure on Willie Mullins for the week's leading trainer award.
It was a third Champion Chase for De Bromhead as Put The Kettle at 17-2 underlined her ‘horses for courses’ status. Last year’s Arkle heroine is unbeaten in four starts at Cheltenham and that factor looked crucial as Chacun Pour Soi’s first try on the course fizzled out up the final hill.
Instead it was Nube Negra who closed the gap to half a length at the line with the 8-13 favourite fading to third.
“A couple of weeks ago she was a bit quiet and we freshened her up as much as we could, and she seemed much better. But she arrived here and was back to what we expected her to be doing - just crazy. She’s mad,” De Bromhead said.
“How she improves for being here - did we feel it, I don’t know. But mid-February I was probably leaning towards the mares’ chase.
“Then I spoke to the owners and we looked at the stats of the Arkle winners, which seemed ridiculous, and it’s her trip and she loves the Old Course, so we thought we’d give it a lash,” he added.
Major gap
Willie Mullins’s quest to fill the last major gap in his big-race CV will continue for another year. Even Politologue’s late withdrawal due to blood on a nostril wasn’t enough to help Chacun Pour Soi get the job done.
"I thought he ran a little bit flat, simple as that," he reported while jockey Paul Townend added: "We had every chance jumping the second last and just weren't good enough on the run in."
Waterford based De Bromhead now has two proven champions in his care and the hugely exciting Envoi Allen still to look forward to in Thursday’s opener.
Even in such exalted company Bob Olinger more than holds his own in looking to have the racing world at his feet after a superb Ballymore victory.
Rachael Blackmore barely had to move on the 6-4 favourite who was much too good for his two big rivals, Gaillard Du Mesnil and Bravemansgame.
The latter's jockey Harry Cobden labelled Bob Olinger "a freak." Even the normally cautious Blackmore couldn't contain her excitement.
Describing the winner as “a very special horse” she added: “His potential is sky high . . . he stays and he has got a hell of a lot of speed so he is extremely versatile. It was a brilliant performance.”
All options look open to Bob Olinger who was given 5-1 quotes for next year’s Marsh Chase but may even be allowed take a tilt at Honeysuckle’s crown.
“We’ll get through his novice season this year before we think too much about the future,” De Bromhead said.
“He’s built like a chaser and jumps like one, so we’d normally love going that way. But we’ll speak to Brian (Acheson) and Robcour (owner) and see what they think,” he added.
