IT has been a quiet period for Northern-bred horses but there was one success last Saturday at Kilbeggan where the Court Cave mare Don’t Bet On It defied her odds of 33/1 to win the concluding bumper by one and three-quarter lengths.

Maintaining the good run of Co Meath trainer Matthew Smith, whose brother Kevin was recording his first success in the saddle on his 12th ride, the five-year-old was bred by the late Brian Kilpatrick. She was consigned through Jeremy Maxwell’s The Glebe House Stud as a foal to the 2014 November National Hunt Sale at Tattersalls where Smith, the trainer, purchased her for just €2,000.

Former National Hunt jockey Shaun Parkyn, husband of the Irish Horse World’s correspondent Sally Parkyn, purchased Don’t Bet On It’s now four-year-old half-sister, Miss Benjo (by Califet), at last year’s Tattersalls August Sale. She is now back in work and being prepped for an autumn campaign. The pair are out of the three-time hurdle winner Henrietta (by Hushang), a half-sister to the multiple winners Horus and An Accordion.