Trainer Venetia Williams could run star novice chaser L’Homme Presse in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival
- L’Homme Presse was expected to line-up in the Turner Novices’ Chase
- But Venetia Williams is seriously considering the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase
- He was an easy winner of the Grade One Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase at Sandown
Trainer Venetia Williams is seriously considering running star novice chaser L’Homme Presse over three miles for the first time in the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.
An easy winner of the Grade One Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase at Sandown, L’Homme Presse is 7-2 third favourite for the shorter two-and-a-half-mile Turner Novices’ Chase, the race many expected him to tackle.
But Williams said the decision between the two races was ‘50-50’.
Trainer Venetia Williams is considering the options for star novice chaser L’Homme Presse
She added: ‘We haven’t decided which race he will run in. Everyone is assuming he is running in the two-and-a-half-mile race but there is every chance he will run over three miles. It will depend on the ground.’
While L’Homme Presse has never raced over as far as three miles, Charlie Deutsch’s mount impressed Williams when winning the Dipper Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham in January.
She added: ‘The Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase is three miles and half a furlong and it is three and three-quarter furlongs further than the Dipper. Was L’Homme Presse stopping at the line? No, so I think it has to be seriously considered.’
