Paisley Park to skip Cleeve Hurdle at Wetherby and head straight for Cheltenham Festival

PAISLEY Park will head straight to the Cheltenham Festival after trainer Emma Lavelle decided to miss the re-scheduled Cleeve Hurdle at Wetherby with her stable star.

The Marlborough trainer has not entered the nine-year-old for this weekend’s rearranged race that has attracted 23 initial entries.

Instead she prefers a racecourse gallop as preparation rather than running on very testing ground just six weeks before he bids to reclaim his Stayers’ Hurdle crown.

Paisley Park, who runs in the colours of the blind racing devotee Andrew Gemmell, beat Jedd O’Keeffe’s Sam Spinner in a thrilling renewal of the 2019 Stayers’ Hurdle.

Yet, after disappointing last season, Lavelle’s stable star was back to his best when landing Ascot’s Grade One Long Walk Hurdle in December from Thyme Hill and West Yorkshire Hurdle winner Roksana.

“On balancing up on what makes sense and what doesn’t, I just don’t think it makes sense to go up there and run on what will be incredibly testing ground,” said Lavelle.

“Don’t get me wrong – it wasn’t as though Cheltenham wasn’t going to be testing (before it was abandoned last Saturday), but there were other reasons for wanting to go to Cheltenham.

“It would have been experience back there, having had his heart fibrillation (after last year’s Stayers Hurdle).

“We said if it was on we’d go (to Cheltenham). We’d have gone to Wincanton (if the race had been re-scheduled there on Thursday), but it was dubious if that was going to be on.”

Paisley Park will therefore head back to Cheltenham after just two runs this season, as runner-up in Newbury’s Long Distance Hurdle and then winner of Ascot’s aforementioned Long Walk Hurdle.

“We had a good discussion about it, and we all think it was the right decision to make,” added Lavelle.

“We’ll take him for a racecourse gallop somewhere to make him feel like he’s been to the races.

“It’s just frustrating. He’s mature, and we want to be going to the races with him, but there’s also a balance about going to the races with him and not bottoming him at this stage.

“What I think it will mean is it will extend our (options) hopefully the other end. I would hope we would then go on to Punchestown, Aintree or whatever.”

The Cleeve Hurdle entires include Grade One-winning steeplechaser Bristol De Mai for Nigel Twiston-Davies and Lake View Lad, a former Rowland Meyrick Chase winner at Wetherby. However both hold entries in the Cotswold Chase after it was switched to Sandown this weekend.

“Let’s see what the weather does. We’ve no idea yet,” said Twiston-Davies. “We’d probably prefer to go for the Cotswold if it was on, but I’ll have to speak to the owners first, so I haven’t a clue at the moment.”

Sandy Thomson’s resurgent Yorkhill, who was an intended runner in the original Cotswold Chase at Wetherby, also features while Olly Murphy has entered Itchy Feet, the horse that denied Sue Smith’s Midnight Shadow in last year’s Grade One Scilly Isles’ Novices Chase.

David Pipe has also entered the mudlark Ramses De Teillee who is expected to feature amongst the Randox Grand National entries when they’re published today.

However the eventual Cleeve Hurdle line-up will depend on conditions at Wetherby, and other tracks, before final declarations are made tomorrow morning.

Willie Mullins remains hopeful his son Patrick will be able to ride at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

Amateur jockeys are currently prevented from riding in Britain due to a tightening of coronavirus regulations, as they do not fall under the elite sport banner that enables racing to continue in Britain.

With the Festival not starting until March 16 this year though, Ireland’s champion trainer is optimistic his assistant can still be involved in the saddle.

“It was another surprise, but we are getting used to those in these pandemic times,” he said.

“I’m hoping that something can be done – hopefully the figures on both sides of the Irish Sea will be better and governments will be looking at things differently. That’s the best we could hope for at this stage.”

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