Racing Express, Thursday 31 March 2022: Paisley Park to prevail

Before he flew off to Hong Kong, champion jockey Lyle Hewitson was asked which horses one should watch for the season ahead. 

One of his leading contenders was Paisley Park. The son of Gimmethegreenlight, trained by Sean Tarry, won his first three races, including the Listed Secretariat Stakes, but then suffered a severe setback and was out of action for more than a year.

For the full version of Thursday’s Racing Express, as found in The Citizen, click here.

He made his comeback at the Vaal last month in a Progress Plate over 1100m but Tarry warned beforehand the distance was too short and his charge was in need of the run. He still did well, though, finishing third behind It’s About Time and despite ending up 4.75 lengths behind the winner, that performance was significant enough to indicate the four-year-old gelding was on the right track.

Paisley Park is back in action at the Vaal today and lines up in Race 6, another Progress Plate, but this time over 1400m. Two of his three wins were over 1400m and his third triumph was over this course and distance when he beat Vars Vicky, who was in top form at that point in his career, by 0.20 lengths.

This will be his second run after a very lengthy layoff but hopefully he will have no adverse effects and will be good enough to get his racing career back on a winning track.

Calvin Habib takes the ride for the first time.

Paisley Park is not the best weighted runner, that distinction goes to four-year-old filly Elegant Miss, who comes into this race 7kg better treated on handicap than Paisley Park.

While the latter had to sit out the most of his three-year-old career, Lucky Houdalakis-trained Elegant Miss was taking on the likes of War Of Athena in two Triple Tiara races, Captain’s Ransom in the KZN Fillies Guineas at Greyville and Big Burn in the Joburg Sprint Fillies And Mares Challenge.

While she only managed to place in the Gauteng Fillies, beaten 6.50 lengths into the third by War Of Athena, racing in all those features ensured her merit rating stayed quite high. It has started to come down, but it could still be higher than her current form, while in the case of Paisley Park his merit rating could be lower than his ability.

Another runner to consider is Mike de Kock-trained Florentine who could run into the money.