Three Horses To Keep An Eye On This Weekend - 15/12/20

Paisley Park showed he is back to his best this season after a superb second behind the young pretender Thyme Hill in the Grade Two Long Distance Cup at Newbury on his seasonal debut.

The eight year old at the Cheltenham festival last season was looking to extend his unbeaten run to eight races and also land back to back renewals of the Stayers Hurdle having been the horse to beat in they Stayers' Hurdle division, 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 last season.

Now, the Andrew Gemmell owned horse is said to be back to his best having been given the all clear from the vets and the frequent winner has been wearing a heart monitor in pieces of his work at home and the problem has not resurfaced.

Although the gelding was taking on much younger horses on his return in November and giving weight away he still ran to a high standard and now off level weights on Saturday he should be feared.

The gelding is a national hunt fan favourite and his trainer Emma Lavelle believes he is more than ready for the Grade One contest on Saturday.

Cheltenham festival winner The Conditional made a bold start to his campaign this season in the Ladbrokes Trophy at Newbury with the gelding up in the weights for the year before but still finishing a creditable third

The handler made sure that the eight year old was fresh ahead of his run in the Grade Three event after finishing a good second in the contest last year.

Last season the gelding had a superb time of things having won at Cheltenham before his place in the Ladbrokes Trophy, he then headed to Warwick in a decent Handicap Chase which set him up perfectly for a tilt at the Ultima Handicap at the Cheltenham festival.

The son of Kalanisi in the Grade Three event, was superb, looking beat when jumping the last but staying the best of the rest up the Cheltenham hill to give his trainer a well deserved festival winner.

Having had a run before heading to Newbury last season and going there fresh this term and still throwing up a solid performance, we should now see him come on for that run and that makes him one to follow off 1lb lower on Saturday.