Stellar Career

The story started way back in the summer of 2015 when Andrew Gemmell paid 60,000 Euros for the unraced three-year-old. The enthusiastic owner, who has been blind since birth, promptly named him after popstar Prince’s extraordinary American home. He went into training with Lavelle and her ex-jockey husband Barry Fenton at their historic yard near Marlborough, Wiltshire. 

His first appearance on the racecourse came in January 2017 in a ‘newcomers’ bumper that closes Warwick’s big Classic Chase meeting. After finishing runner-up behind shock winner Point Of Principle, he embarked on a novice hurdle campaign the next season. It was solid if not spectacular but what was to follow projected Paisley Park to the top of the staying hurdle tree. 

Under regular jockey Aidan Coleman, he went through the 2018/19 season unbeaten. His win in Ascot’s Grade 1 Long Walk Hurdle and his first Cleeve Hurdle success were followed by Cheltenham Festival glory in the Stayers’ Hurdle. It confirmed him the division’s clear number one. The victory came in the style that has become Paisley Park’s trademark. After hitting his usual flat spot running down the hill, he was only eighth turning for home. Then his stamina kicked in and, boy, did it kick in. Running gun-barrel straight up the punishing hill, he stayed on so strongly he was already in front jumping the final hurdle, leaving northern raider Sam Spinner and Irish star Faugheen trailing. 

The following year, a second Stayers’ Hurdle looked as much of a formality as you get at the Cheltenham Festival but an irregular heartbeat was diagnosed as the reason for his below-par performance. He might not have quite rediscovered his very best form since, but third placings in the last two Stayers’ Hurdle and his breath-taking third Cleeve Hurdle victory show he is still a force to be reckoned with. If the weather had been kinder two years ago, when the meeting was abandoned due to the waterlogged track, he might be gunning for a famous five Cleeve victories