Turners Handicap Chase
Handicap, Cheltenham 13:50
£100,000 guaranteed,
4yo plus,
3m 2f, Grade 3  
Friday 12th December 2025

BetPlay

1 Blaze The Way 15/2
2 L'Homme Presse 5/1
3 The Short Go 4/1J
9 ran Distances: 5l, nk, ½l
Time: 6m 48.37s (fast by 1.63s)

Blaze The Way finished his race with real authority, providing Margaret and Danny Mullins with a richly deserved success in one of the meeting’s most competitive prizes.

With £100,000 on the table, the contest attracted a deep and classy field, headed by Grade One winner L’Homme Presse, tasked with conceding weight all round on his first appearance for more than 300 days. At one stage he looked to be labouring, but Charlie Deutsch coaxed him back into a rhythm and the old class came to the fore as he stayed on strongly to take an admirable second.

King Turgeon ensured a proper gallop from the outset, pressed along by Herakles Westwood, while Blaze The Way, sent off at 15-2, was always travelling comfortably within striking distance. Turning for home it was clear he had plenty left to give, and he powered up the Cheltenham hill to assert decisively, pulling clear to score by five lengths.

The winning trainer was understandably pleased with how the plan had unfolded.

He told ITV: “He always turns up every day and runs a good race every day and was brilliant today.

“The step up in trip was needed and his last few runs have been lovely as well.

“We’ll get through today and see how we are after this. I’ll talk to the owners and see what they say and then decide.

“But I’m delighted with him today and it’s great to get today over. Today was the plan and it worked out.”

Danny Mullins, combining the family roles of jockey and son, reflected on the occasion with his usual warmth.

He added: “It’s a pleasure to come out here and ride horses like this and little boys who keep their mummy happy at Christmas do all right in life.

“To be fair, she owed me one as she beat me at the Cheltenham Festival in the Albert Bartlett a few years ago (Martello Tower beat Milsean) when I was looking for my first Cheltenham winner, but it’s great and we have good craic about that at home.

“For my mother to come here with a very small stable, it’s not easy to do and plot out a £100,000 handicap.

“We were sitting down in the summer looking at this. Brian and Tom Groarke are part-owners – they aren’t here today – and Molly and Paul Willis bought Mags’ share a few weeks ago when I told them about this plan and it’s came out great for them, and there was a good team from America here today as well.

“It’s a plan that has come together well and it’s easy to make plans but it’s nice to walk into the winner’s enclosure afterwards.”

There was also plenty of encouragement to take from the run of L’Homme Presse, whose part-owner Andy Edwards focused on the positive in defeat.

He said: “It’s not always great to watch when your boy is out there and you think ‘what’s wrong now’, but he’s fought on really well. I’ll find out shortly if Charlie thought something wasn’t quite right but he’s run on so bravely up the hill and has stayed on once again.

“I’m just so grateful to have him back actually, that was my overriding emotion once he was over the last fence and ran on.

“I never ever, ever give up on a horse and we’d have gone home and helped him and he’s all about class, but something was obviously not quite right halfway round. It is his first run since he pulled-up at Ascot and I need to talk to Charlie.

“There is no plan, it was just today and he’s run really well. He was carrying 12st and the ground was possibly quicker than ideal and Charlie may say they put on a little bit of pace there and he got dropped a bit. But when it came to staying up the hill, he was back to himself, I’m happy.”

December Handicap Chase (Grade 3)
£100,000 guaranteed, 4yo plus, 3m 2f, Class 1
9 ran
Going: Good to Soft

POS. DIST HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY SP
1    Blaze The Way 7 10-2 Ms Margaret Mullins Danny Mullins 15/2
2 5 L'Homme Presse 10 12-0 Venetia Williams Charlie Deutsch 5/1
3 nk The Short Go 8 10-2 Henry De Bromhead Darragh O'Keeffe 4/1J
4 ½ Herakles Westwood 8 10-2 Warren Greatrex Sean Bowen 4/1J
5 2 The Doyen Chief 8 10-6 Alan King Tom Bellamy 12/1
6 7 King Turgeon 7 10-2 David Pipe Jack Tudor 8/1
7 19 Gowel Road 9 10-12 Nigel & Willy Twiston-Davies Sam Twiston-Davies 9/1
8 10 Henry's Friend 8 10-12 Ben Pauling Ben Jones 6/1
PU Cruz Control 8 10-8 Tom Lacey Stan Sheppard 22/1

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