galliardhomes.com Cleeve Hurdle
Grade 2, Cheltenham 15:35
£60,000 added,
5yo plus,
2m 7f 213y, Class 1  
Saturday 25th January 2020

Trainers Quotes

1 Paisley Park 4/6F
2 Summerville Boy 7/1
3 Lisnagar Oscar 50/1
8 ran Distances: 1¼l, 3¼l, 2¼l
Time: 6m 25.81s (slow by 44.81s)

Last year’s Stayers’ Hurdle hero won on his seasonal return at Newbury and was due to run at Ascot last month, but testing conditions ruled him out on the day of the race.

Trainer Emma Lavelle was not concerned about the change in plan and Paisley Park travelled beautifully through the race, with Aidan Coleman keeping him in a handy position throughout.

Summerville Boy, stepping up to three miles for the first time, tried to make all and he was still in front as they turned into the straight.

However, Coleman knew what he had under him and on the run to the last, Paisley Park began to make ominous progress.

He jumped the last cleanly and the favourite won by a length and a quarter, with Summerville Boy in second and 50-1 chance Lisnagar Oscar third.

Coleman told ITV Racing: “This horse isn’t slow, but we’ve gone slow today and it turned into a bit of a sprint, so I knew I was going to have to get stuck into him at some point.

“Usually I get to the front way too soon, but today I got to the front at the last and I thought that was perfect.

“He’s just brilliant, he’s gone round in second gear and he’s an absolute pleasure. I’m just delighted to be associated with him.

“I’ve waited for a horse like this, better riders than me have never found one as good as him.”

Trainers Quotes

Paisley Park was winning the race for a second successive year and Lavelle was delighted to see him strike gold again.

She said: “He doesn’t hit the flat spot the way he used to.

“I think he was as professional today as he has been. I think he is getting better and I think I love him. It is brilliant.

“It is not just the pressure for the yard and Andrew (Gemmell, owner), but you feel you have the pressure of everybody rooting for him and you just want to deliver. He loves it and we are loving having him.

“He is not a slow horse himself and he is a stayer that has got pace. If I’m honest, watching it I enjoyed it a bit more than some of the other races I’ve watched with him.

“I thought that was as good a performance as I’ve seen from him – how he jumped and travelled.

“It was the right decision to miss Ascot. I’m saying the ground here was easy ground as it was definitely testing.

“He carried his penalty and If The Cap Fits did too. It was a proper test today, new horses up against him and he has come through the test well.”

Summerville Boy could well take on Paisley Park again at the Festival, with Tom George pointing to the Stayers’ Hurdle as the “obvious” choice.

He said: “He has run well. He made two mistakes when we didn’t need to, though I’m not saying that made a difference to the result.

“At the end he is only a length down and he was coming back – there is no doubt about that – so we are heading in the right direction.

“I just thought we would try to sprint off the home bend and catch him (Paisley Park) out a bit and we did catch him flat-footed for a minute, but it was a good run.

“There are no problems with the three miles. There are no plans yet, but I thought that was the obvious route (Stayers’ Hurdle).”

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Galliardhomes.com Cleeve Hurdle
£60,000 added, 5yo plus, 2m 7f 213y, Class 1
8 ran
Going: Soft

POS DIST HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY SP
1     Paisley Park 8 11-6 Emma Lavelle Aidan Coleman 4/6F
2 1¼ Summerville Boy 8 11-6 Tom George Jonathan Burke 7/1
3 3¼ Lisnagar Oscar 7 11-3 Rebecca Curtis Adam Wedge 50/1
4 2¼ Tobefair 10 11-0 Debra Hamer Tom Bellamy 20/1
5  ¾  If The Cap Fits 8 11-6 Harry Fry Sean Bowen 11/4
6 1¼ Kilbricken Storm 9 11-0 Colin Tizzard Harry Cobden 25/1
7 2 L'Ami Serge 10 11-0 Nicky Henderson Daryl Jacob 10/1
8 1¾ William Henry 10 11-4 Nicky Henderson Nico de Boinville 16/1

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Year Horse Owner Trainer Weight Jockey SP

1990 Beech Road Tony Geake Toby Balding 8-12-00 Richard Guest 1/3 f
1991 Crystal Spirit Paul Mellon Ian Balding 4-10-09 Jimmy Frost 4/1
1992 Abandoned
1993 Muse White Horse Racing Ltd David Elsworth 6-11-08 Paul Holley 11/4
1994 Flakey Dove John Price Richard Price 8-11-03 Richard Dunwoody 4/1 cf
1995 Mudahim K W Bell Chris Broad 9-11-08 Norman Williamson 13/2
1996 Abandoned
1997 Large Action Brian Stewart-Brown Oliver Sherwood 9-11-08 Jamie Osborne 8/15 f
1998 Mistinguett John Duggan Nigel Twiston-Davies 6-11-03 Carl Llewellyn 100/30
1999 Lady Rebecca Kinnersley Optimists Venetia Williams 7-11-03 Norman Williamson 6/4 f
2000 Lady Rebecca Kinnersley Optimists Venetia Williams 8-11-03 Norman Williamson Evens f
2001 Lady Rebecca Kinnersley Optimists Venetia Williams 9-11-03 Norman Williamson 7/1
2002 Kates Charm Norma Kelly Robert Alner 9-11-03 Mick Fitzgerald 3/1
2003 Classified David Johnson Martin Pipe 7-11-08 Tony McCoy 8/11 f
2004 Crystal D’Ainay Tony & Jeni Fisher Alan King 5-11-04 Jimmy McCarthy Evens f
2005 Patriarch Express A W Muir Sue Smith 8-11-00 Jim Culloty 8/1
2006 Fire Dragon Gay Smith Jonjo O’Neill 5-11-00 Tony McCoy 16/1
2007 Blazing Bailey Three Line Whip Alan King 5-11-00 Robert Thornton 14/1
2008 Inglis Drever Andrea & Graham Wylie Howard Johnson 9-11-08 Richard Johnson 11/8 f
2009 Big Buck’s The Stewart Family Paul Nicholls 6-11-00 Ruby Walsh 7/2
2010 Tidal Bay Andrea & Graham Wylie Howard Johnson 6-11-00 Brian Hughes 14/1
2011 Grands Crus Roger Stanley & Yvonne Reynolds III David Pipe 6-11-04 Tom Scudamore 2/1 f
2012 Big Buck’s The Stewart Family Paul Nicholls 9-11-08 Ruby Walsh 1/4 f
2013 Reve De Sivola Paul Duffy Diamond Partnership Nick Williams 8-11-08 Richard Johnson 15/8 f
2014 Knockara Beau Alistair Charlton George Charlton 11-11-00 Jan Faltejsek 66/1
2015 Saphir Du Rheu The Stewart Family Paul Nicholls 6-11-04 Sam Twiston-Davies 3/1
2016 Thistlecrack John & Heather Snook Colin Tizzard 8-11-08 Tom Scudamore 4/5f
2017 Unowhatimeanharry J P McManus Harry Fry 9-11-08 Barry Geraghty 10/11 f
2018 Agrapart The Gascoigne Brookes P’ship Nick Williams 7-11-06 Lizzie Kelly 9/1
2019 Paisley Park Andrew Gemmell Emma Lavelle 7-11-06 Aidan Coleman 100/30f