L’Homme Presse will try and end 2025 as he began it, with a trip to the Cheltenham winners' enclosure in Friday’s £100,000 Turners Handicap Chase over the Gold Cup track.
Venetia Williams’ stable star was fourth in the Gold Cup of 2024, and won the Cotswold Chase on Trials Day in January before it all went wrong after an early mistake in the Betfair Ascot Chase a month later - and has not been seen since.
The 10-year-old heads 11 entries for a race that Williams won with Mon Mome back in 2008 just weeks before he hit the jackpot in the Grand National as an unconsidered 100/1 shot.
It’ll be a good race if they all stand their ground as rivals could include Henry’s Friend, who’ll have the advantage of a run having claimed the Sodexo Gold Cup at Ascot for Ben Pauling at the start of last month, and David Pipe’s King Turgeon, heading to Gloucestershire after side-stepping the Becher at Aintree.
The Doyen Chief, who lost any chance in the antics at the start of the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury last week, also has an entry.
A mouthwatering card also features the first Cross Country race of the season (moved from October), with the original November race now rescheduled for Trials Day.
The ground is described as mainly good to firm but rain is forecast and trainer Gavin Cromwell, who won it a year ago with subsequent Festival hero Stumptown, has three possibles, while a strong Irish challenge could also include Busselton, who took the famous La Touche Cup over Punchestown’s banks course in May.
The Cheltenham New Course is being used for the first time this season on Friday and the ground is currently Good to Soft, Soft in Places, with officials stating "an unsettled end of the week is forecast".
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