GRAND National winner Venetia Williams heads to the Cheltenham Festival this week as jump racing’s most successful ever woman trainer, with more than 1,600 winners.

And she’ll be bidding to add a couple more, with L’Homme Presse and Royal Pagaille among the form horses carrying the Kings Caple yard’s hopes after the trainer’s best season for years.

The former is entered in the two and a half mile Turners Novices’ Chase on Thursday (March 17), but looks more likely to step up to three miles for the first time to race in today’s (March 16) Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase.

L’Homme Presse has won five of his six races and all four over jumps since joining Williams, including victory in the Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase at Sandown last month, a first grade one winner for her since Golden Goal won the same race 20 years ago.

And amazingly it comes after the horse had a tendon injury when owner Andy Edwards bought him in France which kept him off the track for more than two years.

Venetia, who currently lies fifth in the trainer’s championship after winning more than £1.1m, told the Daily Mail: “He had shown some promise in a couple of placed runs over hurdles in France.

“Andy gave him time and did what the horse needed for his R&R with the tendon.

“People keep asking me if I knew he would end up a Cheltenham horse but you don’t think that, only that he would be a much better chaser than hurdler.”

The 2009 Grand National-winning trainer with Mon Mome, also says Royal Pagaille is better equipped for the Gold Cup than he was 12 months ago when he finished sixth to Minella Indo and was lame after the race.

“He injured his hoof and it took the best part of two months to heal,” she told the Mail.

“It was self-inflicted, a horizontal cut an inch above ground level across the front of the hoof. My assumption he cracked it on the wooden take-off board at the bottom of the fence.

“He was very lame in the unsaddling enclosure but whether it bothered him in the race I don’t know. He did clatter a few fences.”

Game Spirit Chase winner Funambule Sivola is also entered in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, alongside Brave Seasca in the Arkle Novices’ Chase.

Meanwhile Sellack trainer Ryan Potter was celebrating last week when Don Bersy won the Cotswold Hunt Race.