L’Homme Presse given Gold Cup target en route to Aintree

Venetia Williams is eager to see what weight L’Homme Presse is allotted at the Grand National weights lunch on Tuesday ahead of a huge spring which will see her staying stalwart return to his beloved Cheltenham for the Gold Cup before marching on to Aintree.

Now an 11-year-old, L’Homme Presse has returned to action this winter in great heart – finishing runner-up at Cheltenham in December on his first outing for 300 days before filling the same spot behind Gold Cup candidates Spillane’s Tower and Haiti Couleurs in the Cotswold Chase and Denman Chase respectively.

Williams said: “He has come out of Newbury (Denman Chase) well. The handicapper left him alone and put Haiti up and took a view on the run, so it will be interesting to see what weight he gets in the Grand National.

“All being well he will now go to the Gold Cup and then on to Aintree.”

L’Homme Presse was fourth in the 2024 running of the blue riband at Prestbury Park, and his Herefordshire-based trainer added: “He can still run well in a Gold Cup, Mon Mome finished third in a Gold Cup after winning his National and he never achieved the ratings L’Homme Presse has. It would be nice to take him to Cheltenham again and if he ran into a place we would be delighted.

“He would need to jump better than he did at Newbury, but there are times his mind is not quite on the jumping job and it was certainly like that in the Denman.

“On his day his jumping his great and you only have to go back to his previous run at Cheltenham when he was second in the Cotswold, he jumped superbly then. His brain just wasn’t in gear at Newbury, but we’ll allow him a few off days, he’s earned that.”