Punchestown Festival: Paisley Park set for Irish debut

Paisley Park will skip Aintree in favour of a first trip to Ireland for the Grade One Champion Stayers Hurdle at next month’s Punchestown Festival.

The Emma Lavelle-trained 10-year-old ran a fine race in the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham on Thursday, finishing third to Flooring Porter and Thyme Hill in a bid to regain the crown he claimed in 2019, being beaten a nose for second.

Lavelle said: “Paisley is absolutely perfect, I just wish he’d had a longer nose. As things stand we would like to go to Punchestown with him.

“Andrew (Gemmell, owner) is keen to go, and I think he will cope with the track there better.

“At Aintree everything happens very quickly, and we are agreed that in Ireland it should be more suitable.”

One of the most popular horses in training, Paisley Park had returned to winning ways at Cheltenham in January when taking the Cleeve Hurdle for the third time – an extraordinary performance as he had lost many lengths at the start when Aidan Coleman had to coax him to set off.