Paisley Park’s is set to head to Aintree Racecourse next month for a crack at the Ryanair Stayers’ Hurdle at the 2021 Randox Grand National Festival on April 10.
Emma Lavelle's nine-year-old will line-up in the Grade One contest - registered as the Liverpool Hurdle – on Grand National day, after finishing third in the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle at the 2021 Cheltenham Festival last Thursday.
Paisley Park, who has previously won on Merseyside at both Aintree and Haydock Park, couldn't reel in impressive winner Flooring Porter as he failed to regain the Stayers' Hurdle crown he won at Prestbury Park in 2019.
He will probably face Thyme Hill - who he been second to and also beat earlier this season - again at Aintree with Philip Hobbs' rising star missing Cheltenham due to a slight injury.
Paisley Park is likely to be ridden much closer to the pace by Aidan Coleman at Aintree in the hope of landing another Grade One success.
Full list of the current 90 entries for the Randox Grand National
The trainer, who is hoping owner Andrew Gemmell can be at Aintree if the Government's COVID-19 restrictions are eased, said: “Paisley Park seems bright in himself though we will see what he looks like at the end of the week.
“The plan at this stage is to head to Aintree. Thyme Hill will be back there and I’m sure it will be a good race, while Andrew will also be able to be there.
“It will be interesting to see how he gets on back at Aintree as he has not got the Cheltenham hill. He won as a young horse around there over two and a half miles and it will be interesting to see how he goes.
“He will definitely have to be ridden a bit more prominently early on so if he hits that flat spot he is not too far back and doesn’t have lots of ground to make up.
“I think it was a magnificent performance when you look at it as he was on the back foot from the word go and he ran a stormer in the circumstances.”
Lavelle believes the result at Cheltenham may have been different if Paisley Park had had the benefit a prep run beforehand, after he missed out when the Cleeve Hurdle meeting at Cheltenham was postponed at the end of January.
She said: “If I had my time again I think on the back of missing the Cleeve, which was abandoned, I would probably give him a run, even if it was only over two and a half miles just to give him that sharpness because we had a lot of ground to make up.
“Fair play to the horse that he was only beaten five lengths in the end. I just think he lacked that bit of sharpness. The winner (Flooring Porter) did win well.
“Paisley ran a great race but I think these races are all about margins and in this instance he probably just lacked that bit of sharpness he needed. Hopefully Cheltenham hasn’t taken too much out of him and he will go to Aintree that bit sharper.”
