Paisley Park records astonishing Cleeve Hurdle triumph

Emma Lavelle’s staying star lost many lengths at the start.

Paisley Park claimed his third successive victory in the Cleeve Hurdle with an astonishing run that saw him almost left at the start.

The Emma Lavelle-trained gelding won the staying feature in both 2019 and 2020 before his 2021 bid for a treble was scuppered due to waterlogging – and this latest tilt looked well and truly blighted, too, as he spun round and lost lengths on the field.

Gradually eased back into it by Aidan Coleman, the 5-1 chance – winner of the Stayers’ Hurdle in 2019 – jumped the last level with 8-15 favourite Champ and powered up the hill to register a three-and-a-quarter-length success that had at one stage looked an impossibility.

Nicky Henderson’s Champ was the eventual runner-up, with Rebecca Curtis’ Lisnagar Oscar the third-placed horse at 14-1.

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