Paisley Park is reported to be in “great order” ahead of a fifth run in the Stayers’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival this year.

Emma Lavelle’s stable star won the Paddy Power-backed Thursday feature in 2019 and his name was among the 28 possible runners for the contest when the entries were released on Tuesday.

Last seen defying the tight turns of Kempton when landing the rearranged Long Walk Hurdle on Boxing Day, the 11-year-old will attempt to win the Dahlbury Stallions At Chapel Stud Cleeve Hurdle for a fourth time on January 28 as he completes his on-track Festival preparations.

And his trainer is proud to see him still competing at the highest level despite his advancing years.

“It just goes to show that you should never pigeonhole Paisley and I couldn’t have been happier with him on a track (Kempton) that probably doesn’t play to his strengths,” said Lavelle.

“I was very proud that he’s still winning at that level as a 10-year-old.

“Touch wood, he’s in great order – good, fresh and well and he’ll go to the Cleeve Hurdle first and the Stayers’ Hurdle is his big aim as ever. He’ll do one more piece of work on the grass next week (ahead of the Cleeve) but he’s in good form.”

Paisley Park has finished placed behind Gavin Cromwell’s hat-trick seeking Flooring Porter in the past two years, but Lavelle has hopes of a reversal this time.

On turning the tables with the defending champion, she continued: “I certainly hope so – I do think so far this year that he has been performing better than last year and if he can keep that up, I’d like to think we’ll be finishing closer or hopefully in front of him.”

The Paddy Power market is dominated by Irish-trained entries with Flooring Porter heading the betting at 5-1 and closely followed by Joseph O’Brien’s Home By The Lee and Willie Mullins’ Klassical Dream.