Tag Archive for: Long Walk Hurdle

Lavelle hails Long Walk hero Paisley Park

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Emma Lavelle is used to being surprised by Paisley Park but believes his third Long Walk Hurdle success at Kempton on Boxing Day was up there with his best performances.

When the race was frozen off at Ascot two weeks ago, Lavelle was delighted the race was rescheduled but admitted Kempton would not be near the top of the list of tracks deemed suitable for her stable star, who turns 11 in a matter of days.

The popular veteran showed he is as good as ever, though, by running down Champ and Goshen between the final two flights before powering away to victory.

“He probably won as impressively there as he has anywhere for many years – but that is Paisley for you, you just never know and he makes it up as he goes along!” said Lavelle.

“To call him versatile is a understatement. He’s won right-handed and left-handed, on good ground and heavy ground, flat tracks and undulating tracks, quick tracks and staying tracks. When he’s on song, he is extraordinary.

“He’s about to turn 11 but you see when he hits the front, his ears go forward and hears the crowd – he just loves it. He loves the adulation he gets and accordingly I think he has a great rapport with the crowd, they love him.

“All the way through the race yesterday, bar the first two hurdles, he was in a lovely position and in a great rhythm, coming to three out I thought everything was going great, he was still on the bridle.

“Then he met three out wrong, the others quickened and all of a sudden he’s off the bridle and chasing them during his flat spot. At that moment I wondered if the track was just going to find him out, but on the way to two out and he started getting closer, I suddenly thought it was game on. When he can smell victory, then off he goes.”

Paisley Park begins to draw away from Goshen and Champ
Paisley Park begins to draw away from Goshen and Champ (right) (John Walton/PA)

Having finished a narrow second to Champ at Newbury first time out this season, Lavelle’s husband and assistant Barry Fenton believes their stalwart is in much better form this term than last.

“Barry said he just looks in better form with himself this year and I have to agree. Don’t get me wrong, last year he ran some terrific races and won another Cleeve Hurdle but this year he just seems to be buzzing,” said Lavelle.

“He’s so special and so important to us and while he’s enjoying it we’ll keep going. He hasn’t had much in his favour in two runs this year, yet he’s run brilliant races. I just think he spends a lot of time laughing at us and he never wants to be pigeonholed.

“How the race is run is so important. The last two Stayers’ Hurdles have been dictated from the front and turned into a sprint – that hasn’t played to our strengths – but this year he seems to be sharper and not giving them quite as much of a start.

“Having said that, if we go to the Cleeve next, knowing Paisley he might do the same as he did last year and give them all a head start! He certainly makes it interesting, too interesting in my opinion.”

Lavelle herself was absent from Kempton on Boxing Day and instead cheered him home from Wincanton.

“Barry is such a part of Paisley’s life. Andrew (Gemmell, owner) was in Australia, we had owners at Wincanton so I just thought ‘fair’s fair’, it meant a lot to him to be able to go and enjoy that,” she explained.

“Becca (James) who looks after him rang me after the race saying how emotional it was to hear everyone shouting for him and wanting their picture with him. It’s rare to have the opportunity to be involved in a horse like that for any of us and it’s very special.”

Paisley Park raises the roof at Kempton with Long Walk triumph

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Paisley Park raised the roof at Kempton by winning the rescheduled Ladbrokes Long Walk Hurdle.

Trainer Emma Lavelle had voiced concerns pre-race that staging the race at such a sharp track would not suit her stable star – and that looked sure to be proven right as the soon-to-be 11-year-old began to lose touch turning into the straight.

It was Champ, who had made all the running, who looked to hold all the aces as he was still travelling well for Jonjo O’Neill junior, while Goshen – trying three miles for the first time – had still to play his hand.

But as stamina possibly began to tell, Goshen had no more to give and Champ was soon sending out distress signals, too, as Aidan Coleman and his old partner began to stay on relentlessly.

On jumping the last Paisley Park (9-2) just took off in front and from there the result seemed inevitable as he powered away to win by four and a quarter lengths from Goshen to gain a fourth Grade One success.

Coleman told ITV Racing: “That’s three Long Walks he’s won now, two at Ascot and one at Kempton.

“I find it hard not to get emotional about him as he’s an absolute pleasure. He’s been a mainstay of my career for a long period of time, he’s taken me to places that I’m struggling to repeat – especially this year.

“The better horses I ride are getting a bit older apart from Jonbon, but then along comes this fellow and he is a testament to Emma and Barry (Fenton) and their team.

“He’s running in three-mile slogs for six years now, it’s nearly unheard of.”

He added: “He picked up well and going to the last I knew I’d win. I actually got the front too soon, I don’t think I’ve ever given him a good ride!”

Fenton, Lavelle’s partner and assistant, said: “It’s just unbelievable really, he pulls it out of the bag every time. He just seems to have that spark back this year.

“I was a bit worried over the first two hurdles but even tacking him up before the race, he just seemed right. He’s not even just a bit better than last year, he feels like he’s as good as we’ve had him. Last year everything was a bit hard work, even training him at home, but this year he seems bright and happy and enjoying himself. He’s one of those horses.

“This was probably his least favourite ground, but I said to Aidan that this is Paisley Park and you never know what is going to happen. To be fair I was happy going to the third-last and it was just when we landed at the back of it that all of a sudden we were under the pump and under it proper.

All smiles for connections of Paisley Park
All smiles for connections of Paisley Park (John Walton/PA)

“The dead ground probably helped us in the sense that the others came back to him and once he gets a feel that the others are coming back to him he’s at it again.

“He’s one of those horses and he always pulls through. We nearly lost him a couple of times, but he’s a fighter and he pulls through. He’s a poker player and I’d hate to play poker with him as you would not know what’s under his sleeve! That’s the way he trains at home, he takes his every day stuff with a pinch of salt but he’s an incredible horse.

“I’ve spoken to Emma and she’s happy and funnily enough I’ve spoken to Andrew (Gemmell, owner) on the phone. He’s down in Australia so I’m gutted for him that he’s not here, but at least the race was on after Ascot and I was giving him the commentary.

“I won’t say what he said at the end, but he was very happy anyways!”

Goshen jumped the last in third but battled back past Champ
Goshen jumped the last in third but battled back past Champ (John Walton/PA)

Of Goshen, Josh Moore, assistant to his father, Gary, said: “He ran well. You would rather run him over these trips or two and a half miles, but there are not many of them about, especially right-handed. You would have probably the race rather been at Ascot as that might have suited him a bit better. He has run well.

“He is only a six-year-old and both Paisley Park and Champ are 10 year-olds. Hopefully there will be other targets for him. We will give him another go over fences when it is heavy ground.”

Nicky Henderson said of Champ, who got the better of Paisley Park when they met in the Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury: “It was a great race, but he is better going the other way. Barney (Clifford, clerk of the course) said he was going to have some nice soft ground and well done them for putting it on and we are grateful for that, but he is better going the other way round. He does everything to his left.

“He could do that (go for the Cleeve). He is a very good horse when he is fresh though. We ummed and ahhed whether to go to Newbury or keep him fresh for the Long Walk and we opted for Newbury as we thought we had the opportunity there. It was a great race and we got that.

“I was very pleased when this was delayed a week as it gave him an extra week to freshen up a bit more. His jumping was a bit untidy at times as he wanted to go left and the course goes right. You could easily do that (keep him fresh for the Stayers’ Hurdle).It is not ducking or diving, he just loves to be fresh.”

Goshen heading into the unknown for Long Walk assignment

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Gary Moore will be an intrigued onlooker when Goshen tackles three miles for the first time in the Ladbrokes Long Walk Hurdle at Kempton on Boxing Day.

The one-time Champion Hurdle hope embarked on a novice chasing campaign at the start of the season, but a disappointing first effort over fences meant that plan was swiftly aborted.

Goshen may not always be the easiest to predict, but he is a force to be reckoned with on a going day, as he proved when winning the two-and-a-half-mile Coral Hurdle at Ascot last month.

The cancellation of Ascot’s Long Walk card and the subsequent switch to Sunbury means the six-year-old will visit Kempton for the first time since running on the all-weather four years ago. But Moore does not expect the change of venue to be a problem.

He said: “We’re looking forward to it to a certain extent, it’ll be interesting.

“I don’t see any reason why he won’t stay – he’s a pretty relaxed horse. He’ll need to stay in that company, so we’ll see.

“It wasn’t until he ran at Ascot last month that we thought about it (stepping up in trip) as he didn’t really get going until he turned into the straight that day.

“He’s so limited as to what races he can run in as he has to go right-handed and can’t really run in handicaps, so it was either run over two miles in the Christmas Hurdle or over three in the Long Walk.

“They’re getting a nice drop of rain, which is good for us, and if he does stay the trip it will give us a few more options.”

Two horses who have been there and very much done it over three miles are familiar foes Champ and Paisley Park.

The 10-year-olds treated Newbury racegoers to a humdinger in their latest clash in last month’s Long Distance Hurdle, with Nicky Henderson’s Champ repelling the late thrust of Paisley Park by a neck.

“It was disappointing Ascot was off but it is good they keep the Grade Ones, which is important,” Henderson told Unibet ahead of the rematch.

“It hasn’t inconvenienced Champ. I’m not sure Kempton is a great track for him as he tends to go a little left, mind you Ascot is right-handed as well and he’s won there.

“Kempton is a little tighter and it possibly won’t suit Paisley Park either, so we’re probably both in the same boat and something else might come and beat them!”

Paisley Park’s trainer Emma Lavelle has similar thoughts to Henderson on the suitability of Kempton for her stable star, but is nevertheless happy to roll the dice.

She said: “He’s unbelievable, he really he is. He seems to be absolutely flying in himself and came out of Newbury really well.

“I have to say I was kind of surprised at just how well he did run at Newbury, with it being his first run of the season on ground that would have put the emphasis on speed rather than stamina. I was absolutely thrilled with how he ran – thrilled and gutted at the same time.

“But the fact that he is still prepared to put that much into his races and run to that level just shows what an extraordinary horse he is.

“The track is clearly not ideal and he’s going to have to run to his absolute best to win a race like that on a track like that, but who knows?”

Miranda has won at Kempton before
Miranda has won at Kempton before (Steven Paston/PA)

The small but select field is completed by the Paul Nicholls-trained Miranda, who won a Listed prize over the course and distance a month ago but faces a significant step up in grade, and Hughie Morrison’s Not So Sleepy.

Nicholls told Betfair: “She returns to Kempton in top form after a career best at this track last time in a Listed mares’ race, which she won decisively on her first attempt at three miles.

“She ran very well on the Flat before that, wants this trip now and the rain they have had at Kempton should have helped her cause.

“I suspect that the track at Kempton might not be ideal for Champ and Paisley Park, while it is perfect for Miranda.

“I’m glad this race is at Kempton not Ascot and Miranda must have a great chance in receipt of 7lb from the boys.”