Paisley Park & Santini come through Cheltenham dress rehearsals

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Paisley Park horse racing news

Over the last five years at least two winners on Cheltenham Trials Day in January have also won at the Festival in March. Park and Santini won their prep races last weekend and can win the and respectively at the biggest jumps meeting of the year, which starts in seven weeks on Tuesday. Summerville Boy is also a market mover for the Stayers' Hurdle after a decent prep race last weekend.

Paisley Park completed the /Stayers' Hurdle double last season and won the first leg again on Saturday. The horse is a best-priced +100 to win the championship race for long distance hurdlers at the 2020 Cheltenham Festival. The race had a history of producing multiple champions from 2002 to 2012 when eight of the victors won the race more than once. Paisley Park is aged eight so could emulate Big Buck's, which won the Stayers' Hurdle four times from 2009 to 2012.

The Cleeve Hurdle was Paisley Park's dress rehearsal for his target at Cheltenham on the third day of the meeting. He powered up the hill to beat Summerville Boy by a length and a quarter. The runner-up won the Supreme Novices' Hurdle in 2018, but nothing went right for the horse the following season. Summerville Boy is now going down the staying hurdling route and is paying +1000 for Cheltenham, but reversing the form with Paisley Park is a big ask.

Paisley Park is owned by Andrew Gemmell, who is blind but gets from the audio experience. The horse is trained by , who eulogised about him in the Racing Post.

“He was as professional as he's ever been and seems to be getting better. He keeps getting to the front and just does enough. We'll get back into our routine and it always goes well before the Festival,” she said.

Barring injury, Paisley Park cannot be opposed in the 2020 Stayers' Hurdle. The case for Santini backing up his win in the is less clear, but the horse is definitely in the mix for the Blue Riband of chasing. Santini is now into +700 from +900 with online bookmakers to win the Gold Cup. He beat a good guide in Bristol De Mai by three and a half lengths at Cheltenham on Saturday with a battling performance over almost the full Gold Cup distance.

Santini is trained by Nicky Henderson, who knows what it takes for a horse to win the Gold Cup. He was the trainer of Long Run (2011) and Bobs Worth (2013) when they won the Gold Cup. Santini will not race again before the Festival and the trainer believes there is huge improvement in his horse. Henderson is there will be a better Santini at Cheltenham on March 13. He will get plenty of work into Santini at home after this encouraging stepping stone to the Gold Cup.

Paisley Park and Santini could not do much more in their trials for the Festival. Seven weeks is a long time in training race horses and the merest injury could disrupt plans. However, given luck in training and no accidents, Paisley Park and Santini could maintain the average of two horses to win at Cheltenham on Trials Day and back it up in March when it really matters.

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