Jockey Aidan Coleman is eyeing up a Cheltenham Festival to remember, with rides on antepost favourites in two of the four championship races at Prestbury Park.
Following the retirement of Barry Geraghty, Coleman is poised to partner last year's Champion Hurdle heroine Epatante in her title defence, while winning machine Paisley Park will bid to atone for a rare blip and a forgettable effort 12 months ago in the Stayers' Hurdle.
Coleman has also strong prospects of securing the ride on Henry de Bromhead's live outsider Put The Kettle On in the Champion Chase, leaving his agent with only a Gold Cup mount to seek out in terms of the showcase races.
The Cork rider's association with Epatante began when he guided Nicky Henderson's charge to victory on her seasonal reappearance at Newbury in November 2019, but he had to wait until this season's Fighting Fifth at Newcastle before becoming her permanent pilot.
A smooth success set the JP McManus-owned mare up for what was predicted to be another facile win in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton, but she proved no match for Silver Streak under the bold frontrunning tactics employed by Adam Wedge.
Not for the first time, Epatante acted up in the preliminaries, which allied to a career-best effort from Silver Streak, played a part in her shock defeat.
Last years runner up, Silver Streak denies last years winner Epatante in the @Ladbrokes Christmas Hurdle! @EWilliamsRacing the winning trainer and a double on the card for winning jockey @Adamkwedge pic.twitter.com/gxQFC9hXCx
— Kempton Park Racecourse (@kemptonparkrace) December 26, 2020
"Considering there was no one there, she did get quite agitated," Coleman told listeners to RTÉ's Game On.
"But on the day, I think if you look at the sectionals and Silver Streak's performance, she wouldn't have had to underperform that much for him to do that.
"We were eight lengths clear of Ballyandy, who is an admirable horse and a solid yardstick, so it probably wasn't as bad a run as it looked, but it definitely wasn't her running at the same time."
The Emma Lavelle-trained Paisley Park could finish only seventh as the 4-6 favourite as he attempted to land a second consecutive stayers' crown at last season's Festival, but he's returned to action in top form.
After going down to the classy Thyme Hill on his seasonal bow at Newbury when conceding 3lbs, he gained revenge off level weights in the Grade 1 Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot in December.
What a race!
— Ascot Racecourse (@Ascot) December 19, 2020
2018 Champion Paisley Park and @AidanColeman leave it to the last few strides to turn the tables on Thyme Hill in the @PorscheGB Long Walk Hurdle! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/EylY7ABYZH
"If you look at his Ascot win over Christmas, that's actually the best form he probably has," Coleman opined.
"Even when he won the Stayers' Hurdle, he beat Sam Spinner, and Faugheen, who was in the latter stages of his hurdling career. He obviously went on novice chasing and did well again.
"But beating a horse like Thyme Hill is probably the best horse he's beaten over hurdles to date, to be honest.
"You could arguably say that he's definitely as good as ever, and possibly slightly better."
Paisley Park will prep for the Festival in the Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham at the end of the month, a race in which he's bidding to achieve a hat-trick of wins.
"I need to go sit on him soon, give him a school," Coleman revealed.
"It sounds as if all is going well at home. I don't actually see a lot of him to be honest, but no news is good news on that front.
"I'll sit on him next week and then hopefully go to the Cleeve. He's won the last two runnings of that so it would be nice to get another one on the board."
