All roads lead to the Cheltenham Gold Cup for L’Homme Presse following a triumphant comeback as he beat Protektorat in the Fitzdares Fleur De Lys Chase at Lingfield.
The nine-year-old claimed Cheltenham’s Brown Advisory as one of two Grade One novice wins two seasons ago and kicked off last term with a fine weight-carrying victory in the Rehearsal Chase at Newcastle.
However, he subsequently unseated Charlie Deutsch when seemingly booked for second behind Bravemansgame in the King George VI Chase at Kempton and missed the rest of the campaign through injury.
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Jockey Charlie Deutsch was delighted with the return of L’Homme Presse in the Fleur De Lys Chase at Lingfield
Despite a 391-day absence, L’Homme Presse was the 8/11 favourite to make a successful return in Lingfield’s Winter Million feature and proved his ability remains very much intact with a two-and-a-quarter-length win over dual Grade One winner Protektorat.
Winning rider Deustch told Sky Sports Racing: “It’s great. Everyone’s put a lot of work into him and it’s been a long time. After the King George, it takes a bit of getting over and you’d like to get back on straight away but you can’t.
“We are delighted and the feel he gave me up the straight was a right good feeling. Horses like that are so rare so you want him to have a good career.”
The two-and-three-quarter-mile contest was an intriguing watch, with Harry Skelton seemingly keen to make the most of Protektorat’s fitness edge with an aggressive front-running ride.
The nine-year-old looked to have L’Homme Presse in trouble at one stage, but the latter’s jumping kept him in the fight as the pace increased and he was the one travelling the better as the big two straightened up for home.
Protektorat did not go down without a fight and it was still all to play for between the final two fences, but L’Homme Presse stamped his class on the run-in to take top honours with something to spare.
Trainer Venetia Williams raised the prospect of L’Homme Presse running again between now and March, with next month’s Ascot Chase – live on Sky Sports Racing – on her radar.
“That’s been on our mind and we want to see how he comes out of this, but there is a possibility of that. Maybe it will be [Ascot], that is one of the races on the shortlist,” she said.
“We brought him here and he could possibly have run a bit earlier but the races weren’t there. We wanted him to run somewhere where it was an appropriate race and we also had enough time to get him fit.
“I’m sure he will improve a bit, but don’t expect masses of improvement.”