Paisley Park Stamps His Authority on Staying Hurdle Division

The staying hurdling division is not the strongest right now, and we have been waiting for a star to emerge and take it by storm. The young and improving Paisley Park has threatened to do that this season, winning the Betfair Hurdle and the Long Walk Hurdle in the manner of a nice horse. However, on Saturday at Cheltenham he put up his best performance so far in his young career to jump to the head of the Stayers Hurdle market.

The horse is now a best priced 3/1 for the Stayers Hurdle at the festival, and shorter than that in many places after powering up the Cheltenham hill. The most impressive part about his performance is the way he came clear, he was taking on many of the horses that he will take on again in Cheltenham at the festival, over the same course and at the same distance. There will be few better looking pieces of festival form going into the meeting in March than what we saw on Saturday from this horse.

Those who remain unsure about Paisley Park will be quick to point to Sam Spinner, who did pretty much the same last season before disappointing in the Stayers Hurdle. However, there appears to be something different about this horse, and he looks to be the real deal.

Last year’s Stayers Hurdle winner Penhill has not been seen yet this season, and it is likely that he will try and do what he did last season, which is go to the festival a fresh horse for his first run of the season. That plan worked last season, so there is every chance it will do so again, although we didn’t have Paisley Park in the field last season and he will give him plenty more to think about based on what we saw over the weekend.