Cheltenham Festival tips: Paisley Park poised to regain Stayers’ Hurdle crown

Darren Norris picks out his best bets from Thursday's Cheltenham Festival action

Paisley Park ridden by Aidan Coleman. Photo: David Davies/PA

The late withdrawal of Thyme Hill has cleared the way for Paisley Park to regain his Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle crown and the confident expectation is the Emma Lavelle-trained nine-year-old will do just that.

Paisley Park looked set to dominate the division when crowning an unbeaten season by winning this race in 2019 and was sent off the 4-6 favourite for his title defence last March. However, he produced a laboured display, trailing in seventh behind Lisnagar Oscar. It looked too bad to be true and subsequent investigations revealed a heart issue was to blame.