In less than two months’ time the eyes of the racing world will be drawn to Gloucestershire for the Cheltenham Festival to witness some of the finest horses in jump racing in action.
The four-day meeting is the pinnacle of the racing calendar and it is a place where legends are made. This year we are looking forward to seeing a lot of superstars such as Constitution Hill, Honeysuckle, Galopin Des Champs strut their stuff, but there is a veteran set to make another appearance at the festival on the hunt for a second triumph at the greatest show on turf.
Paisley Park is no stranger to avid horse racing fans after storming to victory in the 2019 Stayers’ Hurdle over the likes of Sam Spinner, Faugheen and Bapaume. The 11-year-old veteran has also been thrust back into the limelight following an impressive win at Kempton over Christmas in the Long Walk Hurdle. Trainer Emma Lavelle’s star pupil triumphed over fellow stars Goshen and Champ and she was left incredibly impressed with Paisley Park’s stunning run on a track that does not play to his strengths.
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The gelding is set to return to Cheltenham this Saturday for the Festival Trials Day to compete in the Cleeve Hurdle, a race where he has enjoyed success on three occasions before. The first came in 2019 which he followed up with his sole festival victory in the Stayers’ Hurdle, and he followed it up with a win there in 2020 and more recently in 2022.
Following his latest win at Kempton last month, there is a lot of talk about the seasoned gelding being in with a great shot at claiming his second Stayers’ Hurdle title. The upcoming Cleeve Hurdle will be a great indicator of where he’s at ahead of the 2023 festival in March, but given his impressive track record in this particular Grade 2 race, it looks as though we will see yet another strong performance from him.
All being well this will serve as the last bit of fine-tuning ahead of the Stayers’ Hurdle, where for the past two years, Paisley Park has had to settle for placing behind Gavin Cromwell’s star Flooring Porter. But following Cromwell’s comments recently saying that Flooring Porter is currently 50-50 to be fit in time for the festival, this could provide Paisley Park and Lavelle a huge boost in their final preparations.
Lavelle said it herself recently that she is proud that Paisley Park is still able to win at the highest level and if we are able to see another strong run from her star on Saturday at the famous old track, he will be looking very sharp for the Stayers’ Hurdle for the festival. At 11 years of age, Paisley Park’s racing career is slowly drawing to a close, but if he could secure a second Cheltenham Festival win before that day comes it would be an incredible way to bow out. He has truly been a magnificent spectacle to watch over the past few years and a lot of people are certainly going to be rooting for him in March.
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