2022 Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase winner L’Homme Presse will put his Cheltenham Gold Cup credentials on the line this weekend when he takes on three rivals in the Grade 1 Ascot Chase. The race is the feature at the Berkshire track on Saturday.
Venetia Williams’ nine-year-old misses the second half of last season through injury after having unseated at the last when a clear second in the 2022 King George. However, he recently reappeared with a highly promising display in the Fleur De Lys Chase at Lingfield in which he beat former Gold Cup third Protektorat by 2¼ lengths.
That saw him cut to a best price of 10/1 for this season’s Gold Cup, in which he is vying for third spot in the market behind defending champion Galopin Des Champs and John Durkan winner Fastorslow. Williams’ team may feel like they are making up for lost time, hence another run to get him fully sharpened up for Cheltenham this weekend.
Victory in this Grade 1 will be no easy feat though, as he takes on two other Grade 1 winners in Paul Nicholls’ Pic D’Orhy and Lucinda Russell’s Ahoy Senor. The former won over course and distance earlier in the season and was second to Shishkin in this race last year, while the latter is on a retrieval mission after a slow start to this campaign.
The field is made up by Dan Skelton’s Sail Away makes up the small but select field.
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