As a counterpoint to any idea that a racehorse owner’s role is to pay the bills and pose for photos, Andy Edwards’s two- minute interview after L’Homme Presse’s victory in the Fleur de Lys Chase at Lingfield last month is hard to match.
“Everyone watching ITV saw me burst into tears with the emotion of it all,” Edwards said this week. “Thirteen months [off the track due to injury], a lot of effort by a lot of people, including myself, in the yard. Jess [O’Keeffe], the head lass, Beth [Baldwin] the groom, the vets, the osteo Liz, Venetia [Williams, L’Homme Presse’s trainer] and all the people who generally helped me with him. At one point in the summer, I was in there five days a week to help with his recuperation.
“When you put so much effort into one moment, that needs to come out and it should come out, and it comes out in joy and exhilaration, but also in emotional pride. I wasn’t just proud of him, I was proud of all the people behind the scenes who helped out so much on a daily basis.”
There will be a little less pent-up emotion when L’Homme Presse returns to action in the Ascot Chase at Ascot on Saturday, 27 days on from his Lingfield success. But there will also be thoughts, among the punters and spectators at least, of where the nine-year-old will be heading next if he confirms his status as the odds-on favourite for Saturday’s race. It is six years since a horse trained in Britain won the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and L’Homme Presse is arguably the likeliest contender to keep chasing’s most prestigious prize at home.
Edwards, who “bought L’Homme Presse as a gangly four-year-old with a tendon injury [in 2019] when everyone thought I was barking mad”, is trying to focus on Saturday’s Grade One contest, which would be his chaser’s third success at the highest level.
At the same time, however, the clamour around the approach of Cheltenham’s Festival meeting next month grows louder by the week, and a convincing success for L’Homme Presse and Charlie Deutsch on Saturday could prompt significant shrinkage in their Gold Cup odds. They are unbeaten in two previous starts at Cheltenham, including the Brown Advisory Novice Chase at the Festival in 2022, L’Homme Presse is still lightly raced over fences and also looks all but certain to find further improvement for the three-and-a-quarter-mile trip in the Gold Cup.
“We’ve been really patient with him all along and that’s the key, not just with horses, but with people,” Edwards says. “Give them the time and space and patience, and they will end up being the best they can be.
“I think Galopin Des Champs [the defending champion and hot favourite for the Gold Cup] is a fantastic horse, and on ratings we haven’t achieved what he’s achieved so far. At the same time, I know our lad and I know his mental aptitude and his emotional will to win, and that counts for a lot in sport.
“I played a lot of sport as a young man and that grit and determination can beat raw talent sometimes, and we see it in racing every day. I know my lad has got something about him where he does not like being beaten, and if you’ve got that grit and determination in your soul, that’s a mighty weapon when you’re actually racing.”
Edwards has little time for the annual focus on where Cheltenham Festival winners are stabled, or the suggestion that owners based in Britain should have their horses in British stables.
“Personally, I think it’s a misconception that owners are buying horses and then sending them to trainers,” he says. “I have a lot of horses in France and I know the French breeders et cetera, and Willie Mullins and [bloodstock agent] Harold Kirk’s agents are everywhere in France and everywhere in Ireland, and they are buying the horses. If British owners want the best horse and they’ve got the pockets to buy the best horse, they have to go to Willie Mullins or Gordon Elliott, because they’ve already bought them. That’s my personal opinion, nothing else.”
On Saturday, and all being well, at Cheltenham too, the only flag that L’Homme Presse will be flying is for the benefits of patience and positivity.
Haydock Park
1.02 You Wear It Well
1.37 Good Work
2.10 Salver
2.40 Sounds Russian
3.15 Yeah Man (nb)
3.50 Yes Day
4.25 Great Pepper
4.55 Quintin’s Man
Ascot
1.15 Phantomofthepoints
1.50 Brave Kingdom
2.25 Irish Hill
3.00 Victtorino (nap)
3.36 L’Homme Presse
4.10 Mt Fugi Park
4.45 Roaring Home
Wincanton
1.30 Rosy Redrum
2.05 Colonel Mustard
2.35 Hatos
3.07 Dreaming Blue
3.42 Pride Rock
4.17 Captain Claude
4.50 Shuil Ceoil
Newcastle
3.57 Louisiana Bay
4.30 Redondo
5.00 Alhattan
5.30 Beelzebub
6.00 Oliver Show
6.30 Bonito Cavalo
7.00 One Last Hug
7.30 Global Humor
Wolverhampton
4.40 Pearl Sands
5.15 Nordic Glory
5.45 Romanovich
6.15 Havana Goldrush
6.45 Make A Scene
7.15 West End Charmer
7.45 Doctor Khan Junior
8.15 Harriet’s Angel
Saturday preview
Williams is on course for the best season of her 29-year training career and she could take another significant step towards her record prize-money total of £1.57m when Victtorino (3.00) and L’Homme Presse line up as the likely favourites for the most valuable events at Ascot.
Some punters will feel that Victtorino has a few questions to answer after he finished only seventh behind Ga Law at Cheltenham’s Trials meeting three weeks ago, but he was dropping back to two-and-a-half miles there and ended up racing very wide, before being allowed to come home in his own time once his chance had clearly gone.
The five-year-old is still in the early stages of his career with a trainer who has few peers when it comes to progressing staying chasers through the ranks, however, and he was a convincing winner of two valuable races over Saturday’s course and distance before Christmas.
Victtorino appeared to be some way ahead of his rating when taking the Howden Silver Cup in December with more in hand than a margin of three-quarters of a length might suggest, and that form gives him an obvious chance to bounce back on Saturday, off just a 4lb higher mark.
Ascot 1.50: Lightly-raced eight-year-old Brave Kingdom arrives from handicaps to take on horses with Graded-level experience, but posted eye-catching times in his wins at Plumpton and Newbury.
Wincanton 2.05: The switch to chasing did not work out for Colonel Mustard but he was a very useful hurdler last season and this track and trip could be ideal.
Haydock 2.10: Gary Moore is going for a hat-trick in this contest and Salver, a wide-margin winner on similar ground at Chepstow in December, looks sure to take all the beating.
Ascot 2.25: Irish Hill was behind several of his rivals here in the Lanzarote at Kempton last time but was up with a strong pace for much of the way and could be worth an interest at around 8-1 with Freddie Gingell taking off 5lb.
Musselburgh: 1.45 Micks Jet, 2.15 Without Conviction, 2.45 Balkardy, 3.20 Return Fire, 3.50 Sanosuke, 4.20 Coolkill, 4.50 Bashful.
Southwell: 1.55 William Ewart, 2.25 Noche Negra, 2.55 Sageburg County, 3.30 Desert Halo, 4.00 Sea Grey, 4.30 Cantalupo Bella, 5.00 Daaris.
Kempton: 4.55 Aljezur, 5.30 White Mist, 6.00 Phoenix Star (nap), 6.30 Alhather, 7.00 Media Shooter (nb), 7.30 Crimson Sand, 8.00 King’s Code, 8.30 Rubio De Oro.
Haydock 2.40: There are obvious risks attached to Sounds Russian, who returns to hurdles for the first time since October 2021 and has not run since being brought down in last year’s Gold Cup. He has run well fresh in the past, though, and would be a stern rival for any of his opponents here if his engine is intact.
Haydock 3.15: A big run from Victtorino at Ascot will add to the confidence behind Yeah Man, the runner-up in the Howden Silver Cup in December after finding trouble in running.
Ascot 3.36: Course specialist Pic D’Orhy will ensure a proper test for L’Homme Presse, but the favourite should have his measure if he can build on his comeback run at Lingfield last month.
