Paisley Park was a late withdrawal at Ascot from the Grade One Marsh Hurdle on Saturday due to 'patches of false ground' according to connections.
After 71 millimetres of rain in the last week the ground at Ascot was heavy and both Friday and Saturday cards were the subject of late inspections.
Saturday's 8am inspection prompted another look at 11.30am and the second perusal prompted a 40-minute deliberation during which connections of Paisley Park - Aidan Coleman, Emma Lavelle and Barry Fenton - were down on the track.
Immediately after Saturday's card got the green light, at 12.10pm, Paisley Park was withdrawn from the Grade One feature on account of the conditions.
Fenton, husband of Lavelle, told Sky Sports Racing: "It's only a personal opinion in our view, but there is false ground down the hill. There's a reason there was a late inspection, because it was borderline. Other trainers will be 100 per cent happy to race and I totally get it.
"It's just the fact it's downhill, we couldn't live with ourselves if anything went wrong. It's a gut feeling and we'll live with it. We've waited a lifetime for a horse like this.
"He's in great form, but we'll just have a rethink where we go now."
Paisley Park is the 11/8 favourite for the Stayers' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival with Sky Bet.
"I don't want to take that risk."
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) December 21, 2019
Emma Lavelle spoke to @RishiPersad1 about the decision to not run Paisley Park today at Ascot#ITVRacing pic.twitter.com/rLSZIOIQaJ
