A changing of the guard in the Stayers' Hurdle - but one familiar face remains

Festival-goers habitually treat these four days in the Cotswolds as a resetting of the clocks. Whatever else changes in their lives, they can reaffirm their love of jump racing in the company of old friends.

The human element of those rituals has been transferred to a thousand WhatsApp groups and Zoom parties this week, so the familiarity is being provided by returning heroes on the track, and few are more cherished than Paisley Park, who bids to regain his Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle crown.

While the clock-watchers and the pounds-per-length gurus can argue over whether the nine-year-old has recaptured his former glory in two runs this season, the team around him – trainer Emma Lavelle and partner Barry Fenton, jockey Aidan Coleman and owner and number one supporter Andrew Gemmell – all feel Paisley Park is as good as ever.