SHOW THYME
Johnson aims to see Hill crowned prince in Paisley Park showdown
RICHARDJOHNSON is desperate to help Thyme Hill win his mouth-watering deciding clash against Paisley Park.
But the former champion jockey has made it crystal clear the Paddy Power Stayers Hurdle will not simply be a head-to-head clash.
Thyme Hill and Paisley Park are locked at 1-1 after two pulsating races this term.
The hurdling duo go to
Prestbury Park looking for the upper hand in a Thursday showpiece showdown.
Johnson, however, is wary of other contenders and is cautious about concentrating on just the one rival in a cut-throat event.
Thyme Hill is a solid 4/1 shot to sink 10/3 Paisley and his pilot said: “He just got beaten at Ascot but he seems in very good form.
“Hopefully we can get the better of Paisley Park at Cheltenham. We beat him at Newbury and he beat us at Ascot so, hopefully, it’s
our turn again.
“You ride your horse to run the best race that he can. Paisley Park is very, very good.
“On the day we’ll see what everyone else is doing. There are others in the race I’m sure that are very good so it’s definitely not a two-horse race. All year round you’re hoping to have horses good enough to go to Cheltenham.
“To go there in the biggest races is fantastic.”
Despite competent rivals including last year’s winner Lisnagar Oscar and the Irish challengers such as The Storyteller and even Kemboy, the headliners are still expected to fight it out.
Thyme Hill’s handler Philip Hobbs is hoping youth might win the day for his seven-year-old, who was an unlucky fourth as a novice in last year’s Albert Bartlett.
The younger won the day in the first clash at Newbury in receipt of three pounds. But Emma Lavelle’s 2019 Stayers Hurdle king defied a two-year age gap and took revenge to claim the Long Walk Hurdle by a neck at Ascot when the pair met at level weights.
Hobbs said: “You’d have to say Paisley Park didn’t have the best of runs and he did well to win the race. But Thyme Hill ran an extremely good race and, hopefully, he is still an improver. That would be the plus.
“He’s not had that much racing and our biggest hope is he could still be an improver and is still going in the right direction, whereas Paisley Park at his age shouldn’t be.
“Paisley Park is a formidable horse and is not going to be easy to beat whatever happens.
“Thyme Hill is in really good nick. We are at the stage of thinking about a few gallops to wind him up before Cheltenham.
“He’s not a horse that needs a l o t o f w o r k a n y w a y. We’re ver y much looking forward to it.”
Hobbs has no concerns about the potential going at Cheltenham ahead of the slog on the
New Course. He said: “I don’t think the ground really matters to him.
“You probably don’t want it to be heavy. Anything else is fine and he could cope with quick ground. The ground is the least important thing.”