Local Trainer Emma Lavelle Has Cheltenham Festival Hopes in Paisley Park

Just ten miles or so to the south of Swindon, you'll find the Wiltshire stables of horse racing trainer Emma Lavelle on the North Downs.

"Cheltenham racecourse where Paisley Park won the Cleeve Hurdle" (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Carine06

Further east, there are bigger yards like those of reigning UK Champion Trainer Nicky Henderson in and around Lambourn, an area synonymous with success in the world of National Hunt racing.

Lavelle's outfit, lying just north of Marlborough, is more modest by comparison. Yet this jumps season has been something of a breakthrough for her after training a first-ever Grade 1 winner.

That horse is Paisley Park, the leading British contender for the Stayers' Hurdle at the 2019 Cheltenham Festival and current market leader for the Championship race. A look at the Racing Post's Guide to Racing, which highlights the top ten UK racecourses, has Cheltenham first on the list and Paisley Park has already enjoyed success there this season. The seven-year-old landed the Grade 2 Cleeve Hurdle on Festival Trials Day in January for Lavelle and regular jockey Aidan Coleman. The gelding has a stamina-laden pedigree that has always suggested staying tests are exactly what he needs.

Such breeding (by a Presenting mare, making him related to Cheltenham Gold Cup winners on both sides of his family) has helped Paisley Park fulfil his potential since switched to staying trips for owner Andrew Gemmell. Lavelle has already compared his running style to that of four-time Stayers' Hurdle winner Big Buck's so he has big hoofprints to fill.

"Comparisons with staying hurdle legend Big Buck's have been made by trainer Lavelle" (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Carine06

Having shaped like a useful novice when runner-up in a Grade 2 event at Warwick last season, he was a shade disappointing throughout the remainder of the campaign, finishing a beaten favourite at Doncaster before finishing well beaten at last year’s Festival.

However, his route to the 2019 event has been seamless this time around. The son of Oscar won with plenty in hand on his return at Aintree before recording a win in graded company at Haydock on Betfair Chase day. That earmarked Paisley Park as a horse on a serious upward curve.

Perhaps connections had seen Sam Spinner from the Yorkshire stable of Jedd O'Keeffe win the staying handicap at Haydock and go on to Grade 1 glory at Ascot in the JLT Long Walk and found inspiration as they followed suit.

The horse that has twice chased Paisley Park home at Ascot before Christmas and then in the Cleeve was West Approach – best known for being the half-brother of the mighty Thistlecrack. That Colin Tizzard-trained horse won the Long Walk and Cleeve en route to Stayers' Hurdle glory so there's a certain irony in Paisley Park besting his close relative in the same races.

He has emerged as the leading contender on this side of the Irish Sea while Willie Mullins keeps the powder of reigning UK champion stayer Penhill dry. Their clash at Cheltenham on Thursday, 14 March pits Lavelle's battle-hardened improver Paisley Park against an Emerald Isle raider with a canny knack of somehow getting race-fit at home. It might just be the clash of the Festival made in Wiltshire.

"Comparisons with staying hurdle legend Big Buck's have been made by trainer Lavelle" (CC BY-SA 2.0) by

The horse that has twice chased Paisley Park home at Ascot before Christmas and then in the Cleeve was West Approach – best known for being the half-brother of the mighty Thistlecrack. That Colin Tizzard-trained horse won the Long Walk and Cleeve en route to Stayers' Hurdle glory so there's a certain irony in Paisley Park besting his close relative in the same races.

He has emerged as the leading contender on this side of the Irish Sea while Willie Mullins keeps the powder of reigning UK champion stayer Penhill dry. Their clash at Cheltenham on Thursday, 14 March pits Lavelle's battle-hardened improver Paisley Park against an Emerald Isle raider with a canny knack of somehow getting race-fit at home. It might just be the clash of the Festival made in Wiltshire.