Lingfield Sunday

IT’S taken a while to get him back on track after his last-fence mishap in the King George VI Chase at Kempton last season, but L’Homme Presse (Venetia Williams/Charlie Deutsch) made his belated return a successful one when landing the Fitzdares Fleur De Lys Chase, the nine-year-old justifying 8/11 favouritism to beat Protektorat (Dan/Harry Skelton) by two and a quarter lengths in the £165,000 Winter Million feature.

Winner of the Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham two years ago, L’Homme Presse was better than ever when conceding weight all round in the Rehearsal Chase at Newcastle last term.

He would have finished second to Bravemansgame but for unseating 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.

Protektorat reverted to front-running tactics and went with enthusiasm in front, with L’Homme Presse making minor mistakes at the first and 10th fences, but he jumped well on the whole and moved up to take over from his main rival on the turn into the home straight.

after being headed, Protektorat rallied gamely, but a big jump at the last, when needed, ensured victory for L’Homme Presse, and left Venetia Williams delighted.

“It’s been a long time coming,” she said in the aftermath. “I’m thrilled for Andy, Pat and Peter to have been as patient as they have been.

“There were proper stayers in there today who were going to eke out any weakness and he’s a stayer of course, but you can’t expect them to plumb the depths of their stamina first time out after a long time off.

“We wanted to give him a long, steady preparation this autumn. It’s taken a while. In fairness, he hasn’t had much schooling and I was going to school him this week but wasn’t able to because of the weather. He’s an intelligent horse, though.

“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.”

Asked if she would give L’Homme Presse another run in the Grade 1 Ascot Chase before a Gold Cup tilt, Williams replied: “That’s been on our mind and we want to see how he comes out of this, but there is a possibility of that.”

JPR One (Joe Tizzard/Brendan Powell), a 6/1 chance with the bookmakers, got the better of the errant Matata (Nigel Twiston-Davies/Daryl Jacob) to win an eventful renewal of the Grade 2 Download The Racing App Now Lightning Novices’ Chase at Lingfield last Sunday, with the race being rearranged after Friday’s card had been abandoned.

A winner on his chasing debut at Newton Abbot in October, JPR One would have followed up in the Arkle Trial at Cheltenham the following month but for unseating Brendan Powell at the final fence, having jumped superbly otherwise.

He followed that with a creditable third to Le Patron in the Grade 1 Henry VIII Chase at Sandown, and raised the bar here with an effort which will give connections hope that he can repeat the feat in the Arkle itself in March.

The race got off to a dramatic start, with Matata running across the runners at the first fence, and in doing so cannoning into 9/4 favourite Djelo, who was effectively brought down in the incident.

Matata attempted to make every yard of the running from that point on, but JPR One took the lead five fences from home and made the rest, looking sure to win more easily than he did, but idling after the last to allow the game Matata to close the gap, which flatters the runner-up.

Excuses

Tizzard said: “He was really good today. I’m not making too many excuses for Sandown, I just think he got stuck in the Sandown ground, which you can.

“We had a little walk down the straight today and I was amazed by how well it walked. It was an easy watch today, he travelled great and jumped for fun and that’s the horse we think we’ve got up against the best two-mile novices in England anyway.

“We’ve always held him in pretty high regard and he perhaps didn’t get to the levels over hurdles, but certainly over fences, if he didn’t have that little stumble at the back of the last at Cheltenham, he was going to look majorly impressive.

“He’s got so much athleticism and Brendan has got the hang of not getting too excited – and you could tell he enjoyed that today. We think he’s a smart horse with a big future.”

Asked about future plans, Tizzard responded: “We’ll have to take him to the Arkle now, he deserves to be there. He’s already proved he runs well around Cheltenham, so I don’t know why we wouldn’t.”