Rewind exactly twelve months, to the final weekend of last November, and Aidan Coleman was looking forward to rides on two exciting hurdlers.
Both had gone into the preceding March’s Cheltenham Festival as short-priced favourites. One had obliged in fine style, and as such was already a warm antepost fancy to repeat his success the following year, while the other had disappointed and was on something of a retrieval mission. This time around the horses are the same, only their roles reversed, as Paisley Park and Epatante begin their campaigns.
Paisley Park has taken Coleman’s career to new heights over the past two seasons. Emma Lavelle’s stable star seemed destined to dominate the three-mile hurdle division for years to come after handing Coleman his first Festival Grade 1 win in the 2019 Stayers’ Hurdle but trailed home a disappointing seventh in this year’s renewal, found afterwards to have an irregular heartbeat, as 50/1 outsider Lisnagar Oscar triumphed.
He has not been seen since, partly as a result of the coronavirus shutdown which curtailed the end of last season, but Coleman has not dwelt on the disappointment and his analysis of the race remains typically rational.
“Look, it was Lisnagar Oscar’s day,” he tells Standard Sport. “We don’t like to make excuses, what happened, happened. It’s a fact about his heart and there’s not a lot we can do, but he genuinely was really struggling on the ground as well. He pulled two shoes on the way round and it just wasn’t his day, it didn’t work out and that’s that.
“That’s the way it goes, that’s racing, you take these things on the chin, you move on and you have another go next time.”
The road to redemption starts at Newbury on Friday in the Long Distance Hurdle, a race Paisley Park won in thrilling style against the much-loved veteran Thistlecrack last year, but this time around he faces what looks a deeper renewal, with Paul Nicholls’ McFabulous and Phillip Hobbs’ Thyme Hill graduating into open company.
“What we seemed to lack last year, and why he was such a short-priced favourite, was there didn't seem to be many new kids on the block,” Coleman says. “This year it's different with Thyme Hill and McFabulous, who look exciting horses.
“It'll be interesting to see if they take a step up and if they do then Paisley needs to be stepping up as well. That's the nature of racing at this level.”
It is no exaggeration to suggest that were it not for Paisley Park, and the opportunity he gave Coleman to prove himself at said level, the vacant ride on the Champion Hurdler, Epatante, may have found its way elsewhere this summer.
Coleman last rode Nicky Henderson’s star mare in the Gerry Feilden on the same Newbury card a year ago, when she was dropped into handicap company after blowing out in the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham, but following the retirement of legendary jockey Barry Geraghty, he has been given the nod to resume the partnership in the Grade 1 Fighting Fifth at Newcastle on Saturday.
Geraghty after winning the Champion Hurdle on Epatante at what would prove his last Cheltenham Festival
Getty Images“It'll be a year to the day or whatever since I won on her in the Gerry Feilden and then she went off to bigger and better things which was great to see,” he says.
“Nicky just said to me last week, you better come and have a sit on her and school. It's a great position to be in and I'm really privileged to be asked.
“I've been riding out at Nicky's for a couple of years now, once-a-week, and had plenty of success, and obviously had plenty of success for [owner] JP [McManus] as well. So, I'm in a very privileged position to get the ride.”
The six-year-old is not the only mare with whom Coleman has eyes on Festival glory come March, with last year’s Arkle winner Put The Kettle On having stepped out of the novice ranks to land the Shloer Chase at Cheltenham’s November Meeting, setting out her Champion Chase credentials. (The new Mares’ Chase is also a Festival option, though fans despairing at the thought may take heart from the fact that it’s not one Coleman has given much thought to: “I don’t even know what day it’s on!” he says.)
Coleman celebrates Arkle success with Henry de Bromhead’s Put The Kettle On
Getty ImagesThe regularity with which such quality rides are now coming around mark the realisation of Coleman’s talent and stand as vindication for years of perseverance. Only last month he was making his comeback from a complex arm fracture, while just this week he was in the saddle as promising novice-chaser Sangha River suffered a horrific, life-ending fall in a race that encapsulated the highs and lows of the sport, as last season’s Supreme winner Shishkin lit up Kempton on his chasing debut.
“I suppose I've been around a bit longer now as well so it's great to be getting rewarded,” he says. “If you look at the betting for March, at this moment in time - and it can all change, you never know in this game - there's the four main Championship races and I ride the favourite or something high up in the market in three of them.”
So, just a Gold Cup horse to go?
“It's as easy as that!,” he laughs. “No, it's a lot of hard work, it's an extremely tough game, so to be on one of them is great. At this moment in time to have potentially - and I stress, potentially - three of them is great.”
The Ladbrokes Long Distance Hurdle and Betfair Fighting Fifth Hurdle are both live on ITV. For more info visit greatbritishracing.com
