EXCLUSIVE: Aidan Coleman rode some spectacular horses during his 17-year career but the Irish jockey admits that one stands out from the rest
Former Irish jockey Aidan Coleman has admitted Paisley Park stands alone in his favourite ever rides.
The 36-year-old was forced to retire in April 2024, almost a year after he suffered a serious leg injury in a fall at Worcester that ended his 17-year career, in which he rode four winners at the Cheltenham Festival and a total of 13 Grade 1 winners.
Speaking exclusively to Daily Star Sport, Coleman reflected on his greatest rides throughout his career. The Cork native triumphed with Jonbon and Epatante, but one brilliant horse came straight to mind.
“I was very fortunate to ride some very nice horses, but I suppose the one that always stands out for many reasons, would be Paisley Park,” Coleman said.
“You know, longevity, as well as being an extremely talented horse, but he was at the top table for like four years, and four years is a long time, it might even be five.
“To win numerous big races every year, that’s pretty special, and it’s rare you get horses like that. He was a mainstay in the latter part of my career and he was a great character as well. He was a really fun horse to be around and kind of ticked all the boxes.”
Owned by Andrew Gemmell, Paisley Park won three Long Walk Hurdles, three Cleeve Hurdles, a Stayers’ Handicap Hurdle, as well as triumphing in the Stayers’ Hurdle at the Festival in 2019.
But one race in particular sticks in the minds of racing fans, when Paisley Park initially failed to race with the rest of the field in the 2022 Cleeve Hurdle. In one of the most remarkable wins at Cheltenham, Paisley Park trailed by 15 lengths to beat odds-on favourite, Champ.
Coleman recalled the exhilarating race, saying: “He was going all right when he jumped up. Obviously what happened at the start was over in a flash because you’re just at panic stations getting him going.
“But the main reason I got him going in that is because I’m adamant he got beat in the Stayers Hurdle the year before (2021) because he didn’t have a prep because the Cleeve was called off, so we had to go there from the Long Walk to Cheltenham.
“And he had no run in between and he was very rusty on the day at Cheltenham and I just thought if he had had a Cleeve – it was no one’s fault it was called off – but if he had run in the Cleeve, we would have won the Stayers’ Hurdle the previous year.
“So basically when I got going I was like, well, he needs to run. I think there were only four or five runners. He’s going to pick up prize money out the back anyway, but I was using it basically as a basic course gallop after that, and then the rest is history, as they say.
Coleman also touched on another of his beloved rides, the incredibly popular mare, Put The Kettle On, who he won the Arkle and the Champion Chase at the Festival in successive years in 2020 and 2021 respectively.
Put The Kettle On shocked Henry De Bromhead’s favourite Notebook, and close second in the market, Fakir d’Oudairies, to win the Arkle as a 16/1 outsider.
Reflecting on their Cheltenham success, Coleman added: “She was really special because I don’t think any time I ever rode her she was actually in the top two or three in the betting, even when she was like 16/1 when she won the Champion Chase and she was about the same when she won the Arkle.
“She was just so easy to ride as well. She was just like the most perfect of it, the greatest ride you could ever have, she was so easy.
“You just gave her a bit of room and she measured up her fences herself and she tried so hard. Oh, she was just so easy. It’s funny she tried so hard in that Champion Chase. That was it, really.
“I won’t say she never tried again because that would be doing her a disservice, a massive one at that. After that Champion Chase her form really tailed off and that was it. She put everything into it.
“We won an Arkle, a Champion Chase, and an Arkle trial in our five or six rides. She was pretty special.”