The superstar Paisley Park could be seen again before the end of the season says his trainer Emma Lavelle with the Punchestown Festival at the end of April looking the most likely target.
The eight year old at the Cheltenham festival was looking to extend his unbeaten run to eight races and also land back to back renewals of the Stayers Hurdle but it was not to be for the fan favourite.
After the race it was found that the son of Oscar had come back with an irregular heartbeat that was certainly the cause of his underwhelming run in the Grade One he dominated in last season.
While the problem appeared to have sorted itself out by Friday morning, Paisley Park was sent to Rossdales Equine Hospital in Newmarket on Sunday for further examination by equine cardiologist Celia Marr.
(Credit At The Races) Lavelle said: “I actually haven’t heard anything so far today, but I got a call from Newmarket late yesterday afternoon to tell me he’d had the scans on his heart and everything looked good.
“They tell me he has an enormous heart, although I’m not sure we actually needed a scan to know that!
“He had an ECG on overnight. Subject to everything being OK with that, he will then be allowed to come home.”
The trainer also revealed that she had planned for Paisley Park to run again before the end of the season despite what happened at the festival and believes if the Punchestown festival goes ahead he will turn up there.
However, it is very much up in the air whether the meeting will go ahead due to the Coronavirus outbreak with all racing in Ireland and Britain currently taking place behind closed doors.
“Let’s see what happens over the next week or two. Obviously there is a lot more going on than just what has happened with Paisley Park,” Lavelle added.
“Once we’ve got him home, we can start working him again, and he can wear a monitor with a chip – which will then send the data back to Newmarket and we can be sure everything is as it should be.
“If he seems well, he’s working well and racing is still going ahead, then we will definitely still consider Punchestown – but there’s a much bigger picture at the moment.”