'He's much more up for it': Emma Lavelle confident Paisley Park can bounce back

Emma Lavelle has backed Paisley Park to return to the top of the staying hurdle division ahead of her stable star's seasonal return in the Grade 2 Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury next Friday.

The eight-year-old was considered one of the bankers of the Cheltenham Festival in March's Stayers' Hurdle but ran far short of his best to finish seventh to Lisnagar Oscar.

In spite of the crushing defeat, Paisley Park is the general 5-1 favourite to regain the crown he won in 2019 if he returns to the festival in March.

Beyond second favourite Benie Des Dieux, the market features a new cast of emerging staying hurdlers, including Gordon Elliott-trained pair Fury Road and Sire Du Berlais as well as McFabulous, trained by Paul Nicholls.

While Lavelle is conscious of the threat posed by this latest crop of talented rivals, she believes Paisley Park can still prove the pick of the bunch if forced to lock horns with any and all this season.

"Every year you look at the new horses coming up that are going to have a crack at that division," the trainer said. "I’d never take any of these horses for granted and Paisley Park was one of them once.

Emma Lavelle (right): with her star hurdler Paisley Park at Newbury's Winter Carnival gallopsCredit: Edward Whitaker

"But I think there is a history of the horses who have been there and done it in this division remaining at the top for a while and we are hoping that he is one of them.

"Paisley doesn’t want to get beaten and I love that in a horse, that he has got that sheer determination."

With a heart irregularity detected after Cheltenham now corrected, Lavelle reports the two-time Grade 1 winner to be in better condition than he was before defeating Thistlecrack in the Long Distance Hurdle 12 months ago.

Paisley Park worked at Newbury on Tuesday as part of the course's Winter Carnival gallops morning in the build-up to next week's two-day meeting headlined by the £200,000 Ladbrokes Trophy.

"He has been absolutely brilliant," Lavelle said from Newbury after news broke on Monday that last season's Ladbrokes Trophy winner De Rasher Counter had been ruled out for the season through injury.

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"Barry [Fenton] rides him all the time and he knows him inside out. All the way through this season he has been happier with him. He is much more up for it and hasn’t had any questions asked of him.

Aidan Coleman celebrates aboard Paisley Park after winning the 2019 Stayers' HurdleCredit: Edward Whitaker

"He has felt really sparky and well in himself. Barry came in with a beaming smile after that as he was pulling for more as they crossed the line.

"I would say that’s probably the equivalent of three pieces of work we have done with one swinging canter around here. It took so much to get the fat off him from the summer last year.

"I love these events as they do so much more than they would at home, not necessarily about galloping, but just getting that adrenaline you don’t necessarily get at home."

Paisley Park is far from a veteran in the context of the division and at the age of eight Lavelle sees no reason why he should not continue to progress from his current hurdles rating of 167.

She added: "He probably will have to step forward again but he is only eight. I think naturally he should still be getting better if everything operates in the way that it should.

"I’d say he will be a hurdler for the rest of his career. He is a great jumper of a hurdle now but he took a long time to be that.

"I don’t know if he is manly enough to tackle fences. If we can win the races we have been winning why take that risk? As long as we have him here right to do it hopefully he will be the best of them."

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