Tom Bellamy admits the experience of suffering three narrow defeats on Paisley Park has been “killing me”.
But he knows his chances of riding a first Cheltenham Festival winner on the people’s favourite in the Paddy Power Stayers Hurdle are still alive and well
And he is determined to prove it when Emma Lavelle’s stable star lines up in the 3m prize for the sixth time.
The 29-year-old has ridden the now 12-year-old Paisley Park four times and so far the pair have not quite timed their come-from-behind surge to secure the best result.
“It’s obviously a privilege to be riding a horse like him,” he said. “But he is the most frustrating horse to ride. I probably wouldn’t say that if I’d won on him but the way things have worked out has been very frustrating.
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“He makes it hard work through the race and just fails to get there. If he was finishing ten lengths behind the winners I probably wouldn’t be as frustrated but when it’s been such fine margins it’s been killing me.
“I’ve watched all of them back in depth. We’ve been beaten a head, a short head and a head and I’ve been struggling to see where we’ve been giving those margins away. It’s hard but he is an old horse now and maybe his legs don’t go as fast as they used to.”
The roar was deafening from a crowd willing Paisley Park up the hill to mow down all bar Noble Yeats in the Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham in January.
“In the aftermath there was lots of applause for him which if I am brutally honest, as a jockey who has just been beaten, does your head in but I can see why the racing public admire him. I would just love to win on him now.”
Paisley Park: makes his sixth appearance in the Stayers' Hurdle (Getty Images)The noise will be even louder if Paisley Park, third twice since winning the Stayers’ in 2019, can muster another famous charge.
“He’s been doing everything right, bar actually winning,” says Bellamy. “I know this is going to be the most competitive race he’s run in this year but in a funny way I am not worried. I don’t think it matters what’s in front of him because I know he will run his race.
“He has a massive place chance and everything else would be a lovely bonus. I’ve ridden him in smallish fields and sat in the second tier, down the inside, with three or four in front. “With a bigger field in the Stayers I might have a few more in front and go back to how he was ridden in his glory year to see if it makes a difference. Once he gets past one he starts rolling and maybe I’ve had him too prominent.”
Paisley Park: winning the Stayers' Hurdle in 2019 (PA)From a jockey family, Bellamy’s father Robert, mother Sue and brother Archie were successful riders and his grandfather Raymond Quinn rode a Festival winner. Tom was beaten a neck on Tobefair in the 2019 Pertemps Final.
“That was by Sire Du Berlais who went on to win the Stayers so I feel like the Festival owes me one,” he says.
“I didn't ride at Cheltenham or Aintree last year so I am looking forward to just being there. I could have three reasonable rides.
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“The only pressure I will have is from myself. I want Paisley Park to win. But the reality is he is 12 years of age, everyone in the game loves him and as long as he comes back in one piece, we’ll all be happy enough.”
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