Career
Showing talent from an early age, Walsh won the Irish amateur title twice, in 1996/97 (aged 18) and 1997/98, before turning professional. [2] He won the English Grand National in 2000 at his first attempt, aged 20, on Papillon, [6] a horse trained by his father and owned by Mrs J Maxwell Moran. [2] Father and son then went on to win the Irish Grand National with Commanche Court the same year. In the 2004/05 season Walsh won three of the four Nationals: the Irish on the 2006 Grand National winner, Numbersixvalverde, the Welsh on subsequent 2007 Grand National winner Silver Birch, and the English on Hedgehunter. He rode Cornish Rebel in the Scottish, but was beaten a short head by Joe's Edge. However, he had earlier success in that race on Take Control in 2002 and following the retirement in 2015 of Tony McCoy, became the only jockey then riding to have won all four Nationals. Walsh has one of the best Grand National records amongst contemporary jockeys, having won the race twice (2000, 2005), finished second once (2006), third once (2009), and fourth twice (2001, 2002).
During his career Walsh rode more than 2,500 winners, including 59 at the Cheltenham Festival, since his first win in 1998 on Alexander Banquet. These include the 2004 Queen Mother Champion Chase on Azertyuiop, the 2007 and 2009 Cheltenham Gold Cup on the favourite, Kauto Star [2] and two subsequent Champion Chase successes in 2008 and 2009 on the brilliant Master Minded. He also won both the 2006 Tingle Creek Chase and the King George VI Chase on Kauto Star. He repeated the King George feat, again on Kauto Star, in 2007 (just days after returning from injury), 2008, and 2009 when Kauto Star won impressively by 36 lengths. He reclaimed the King George VI Chase in 2011 on board Kauto Star after Long Run won the race in 2010. He won the Hennessy Gold Cup twice, in 2003 on Strong Flow, and 2009 with Denman. He also won the Whitbread Gold Cup twice, in 2001 and 2003 (the latter when it was run as the Attheraces Gold Cup), both times on Ad Hoc. In 2007, Walsh won the inaugural British Horseracing Board Jockeys' Order of Merit award.
Walsh was Irish jump jockey champion twelve times – 1998/99, 2000/01, 2004/05, 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08, 2008/09, 2009/10, 2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16 and 2016/17. His dominance of the jockeys' championship in Ireland was all the more remarkable inasmuch as for a period of more than ten years he had a unique riding arrangement with two powerful stables, one on either side of the Irish Sea. Based in Calverstown, County Kildare, where he lives with his wife Gillian, he rode predominantly for Willie Mullins in Ireland. Previously he also spent a substantial proportion of his time riding in England for Somerset-based champion trainer Paul Nicholls, the former trainer of Kauto Star. [2] Walsh also took the occasional ride for his father, Ted, and a variety of other Irish trainers.
In January 2007, Walsh achieved the fastest-ever century of winners in Irish jumps racing history aboard Bluestone Lad at Gowran Park. He ended the 2006/07 season with a combined total in Ireland and the UK of 198 winners, more than any other jockey from either country that year. (This total was later increased to 200 on the disqualification of two horses for positive tests to banned substances. In both instances, Walsh had ridden the subsequently-promoted runners-up.) He repeated this feat in 2007/08, riding his 200th winner on Andreas at Sandown on his penultimate ride of the season. He rode his 1,000th Irish winner, Rare Article, at Sligo in May 2008.
At the 2009 Cheltenham Festival Walsh rode a record-breaking seven winners over the four days. He equalled that record at the 2016 Cheltenham Festival. On the second day of the 2010 festival he rode Sanctuaire to victory in the Fred Winter Juvenile Novices Handicap Hurdle, thereby becoming the jockey with the most wins in the history of the Festival.
In March 2011, Walsh rode Hurricane Fly to victory in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, finishing ahead of Peddlers Cross and Oscar Whisky. It was Walsh's first victory in the feature race of the opening day. [7]
He won his 2,500th race on Au Quart De Tour at Gowran Park on 20 January 2016. [8]
As of 2019, Walsh remained the Festival's most successful rider and won the leading rider's award eleven times within a fourteen-year span. [9] In August 2015 Walsh won the Australian Grand National on Bashboy. [10] [11] [12]
On 1 May 2019, Walsh announced his retirement from racing with immediate effect after a career spanning 24 years. The announcement was made after he rode Kemboy to victory in the Punchestown Gold Cup. It was the 213th Grade One win for Walsh. [13] [14] [15] [16]
Statistics
He was the leading jockey at the Festival 11 times: 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Irish Jump Racing wins season by season [18]
| Season | Runs | Wins | Win % |
|---|
| 1994/95 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 1995/96 | 77 | 8 | 10 |
| 1996/97 | 184 | 30 | 16 |
| 1997/98 | 230 | 41 | 18 |
| 1998/99 | 503 | 95 | 19 |
| 1999/00 | 239 | 33 | 14 |
| 2000/01 | 480 | 84 | 18 |
| 2001/02 | 444 | 84 | 19 |
| 2002/03 | 488 | 78 | 16 |
| 2003/04 | 360 | 70 | 19 |
| 2004/05 | 527 | 111 | 21 |
| 2005/06 | 422 | 90 | 21 |
| 2006/07 | 562 | 125 | 22 |
| 2007/08 | 547 | 131 | 24 |
| 2008/09 | 512 | 121 | 24 |
| 2009/10 | 424 | 128 | 25 |
| 2010/11 | 192 | 45 | 23 |
| 2011/12 | 358 | 85 | 24 |
| 2012/13 | 340 | 101 | 30 |
| 2013/14 | 403 | 122 | 30 |
| 2014/15 | 253 | 79 | 31 |
| 2015/16 | 350 | 105 | 30 |
| 2016/17 | 371 | 131 | 35 |
GB Jump Racing wins season by season [18]
| Season | Runs | Wins | Win % |
|---|
| 1997/98 | 14 | 2 | 14 |
| 1998/99 | 13 | 1 | 8 |
| 1999/00 | 8 | 1 | 13 |
| 2000/01 | 18 | 5 | 28 |
| 2001/02 | 68 | 13 | 19 |
| 2002/03 | 295 | 76 | 26 |
| 2003/04 | 294 | 62 | 29 |
| 2004/05 | 311 | 81 | 26 |
| 2005/06 | 236 | 69 | 29 |
| 2006/07 | 291 | 75 | 26 |
| 2007/08 | 229 | 69 | 30 |
| 2008/09 | 252 | 69 | 27 |
| 2009/10 | 234 | 69 | 29 |
| 2010/11 | 106 | 26 | 25 |
| 2011/12 | 221 | 55 | 25 |
| 2012/13 | 211 | 57 | 27 |
| 2013/14 | 25 | 7 | 28 |
| 2014/15 | 56 | 13 | 23 |
| 2015/16 | 45 | 14 | 31 |
| 2016/17 | 24 | 6 | 25 |
Injuries
Like many jump jockeys, Walsh has suffered a number of serious injuries, the worst of which was a broken leg sustained in 1999 at Pardubice in the Czech Republic, a course he was visiting to compete in the famous Great Pardubice Steeplechase. He later broke the same leg while schooling a horse and was out of action for a total of five months that season, but recovered in time to partner Papillon to win his first Grand National.
Walsh has also fractured his wrist twice, dislocated one hip and fractured the other, cracked his elbow, dislocated both shoulders and suffered cracked and badly bruised vertebrae. A fall at the Paddy Power meeting at Cheltenham in November 2008 resulted in Walsh having his spleen removed in an emergency operation. [19] He returned to the saddle just 27 days later.
Walsh fractured his left ankle during a fall from the ill-fated Imperial Hills, trained by Willie Mullins at Killarney in May 2009. During his time off he was present to saddle Sesenta for Willie Mullins in the Ascot Stakes at Royal Ascot.
During the run-up to the 2010 Grand National he broke his left arm after a fall from Celestial Halo. His horse fell and they both seemed to have got away unscathed, but a horse racing behind them landed on his arm while he was on the ground, breaking it in two places. Walsh suffered an injury in the same race in 2012 after a fall from Zarkander which ruled him out of the 2012 Grand National.
On the last day of the 2014 Cheltenham Festival Walsh sustained a compound fracture of the humerus in a fall in the Triumph Hurdle. [20]
On the day before the 2016 Grand National Walsh fractured his wrist after falling in the Topham chase on Blood Cotil. [21]
On 18 November 2017 Walsh fractured his right leg in a fall at Punchestown and did not return until 3 March 2018. [22] [23] On day two of the 2018 Cheltenham Festival Walsh aggravated his late 2017 injury.
