Former jockey great and now presenter Ruby Walsh (Picture: theirishfield.ie)
Exclusive interview with Ruby Walsh: legendary jockey gives his top horses to follow this season, comparisons with Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher and why Irish racing will remain dominant
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Ruby Walsh is an ambassador for Racing TV and considered by many one of the best Jumps jockeys of all time
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The racing legend looks ahead to the November Meeting, shown live on Racing TV, at Cheltenham this weekend – where many stars of the future will be on show
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The former jockey believes the Irish dominance of racing will continue – but the Brits are starting to fight back
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Walsh also paid tribute to his good friend and racing colleague Graham Lee, who is currently in intensive care after a nasty fall at Newcastle last week
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Where used, please credit: Racing TV is the only channel showing every race live from Cheltenham’s November Meeting – start your FREE MONTH TRIAL now at racingtv.com/freetrial but hurry, there are only 500 left.
The summer season was great in racing – the winter jumps has a lot to live up to
RW: I thought the summer was great, there was some great action and meetings on the Flat. Royal Ascot, York, Irish Champions Festival, there was some great racing.
You look back now at the Derby and see Auguste Rodin beating King Of Steel and where they both ended up.
To me, racing keeps going 12 months around but I think the action of the course of the summer was great and lets hope the Jumps season lives up to the bar that was set over the summer.
Big Evs was some story in the Summer, the horse that won the Nunthorpe – Live In The Dream – watching him win that with the way he bounced out of the stalls was incredible.
I loved the Breeders Cup, with Auguste Rodin on the inside rail up against Frankie Dettori and King Of Steel – that was some battle.
The November Meeting is when the jumps season really kicks into gear – it’s like a mini Cheltenham Festival
RW: I look at it and think that when the cameras are at Wetherby, Down Royal, the November meeting at Cheltenham, that’s when you know the jumps season is in full flow, it steps up again this weekend.
The November Meeting is not the Cheltenham Festival, but it’s like a mini one. There are always great crowds, a great atmosphere, it’s a really enjoyable vibe. I am really looking forward to it.
It really starts ramping up this weekend.
You could have the likes of Delta Work and Galvin in the Cross Country race – they are two massive names. Who knows who we might see in the novice hurdle or novice chase, the likes of Unexpected Party for example, who won’t be a novice for much longer, but he could run.
You’re looking at the November Meeting and wondering who are going to be the future stars, you saw Down Memory Lane in Down Royal, Ile Atlantique at Gowran Park, on Friday there was Brighterdaysahead and Mahon’s Way on Sunday, horses coming out of bumpers, horses coming from foreign fields, all that new talent is coming through and it’s such an exciting time of year.
I’ve been compared to Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville on punditry – I enjoy what I do, especially when there’s good racing
RW: I do enjoy it a lot. Whatever way you look at it, I always worked, so hopefully I will be in work and it is great to be able to continue to do something in horse racing. I enjoy doing what I’m doing, especially when there’s good racing.
I probably have to work a bit hard harder when there is lesser racing but i am enjoying all aspects of the sport, whether that is on the flat or national hunt, whatever happens in the sport i would imagine that pundits in other sports, you watch the Rugby World Cup for example, people educated us all about their sport and we look at it in a different way.
Betting is a massive part of racing but there are also tactical parts of racing and if you can somehow combine the both, then it will make a much better product for people to watch.
It’s not too early for Cheltenham Festival talk – it is what the punters want
RW: I suppose that’s what punters want. Are you going to give somebody an antepost price about a horse for a novice chase in December, when you don’t really know where it is going to go, like to the Challow or the Tolworth?
Or in Ireland, will they go to the Royal Bond, wait for the Christmas Festival at Leopardstown, the Lawlors at Naas after Christmas? There are plenty of good races along the way but ultimately, it is about Cheltenham where they are almost likely to meet so that’s why we often get these quotes early on.
In football, you won’t get a price about a team reaching the quarter final or semi final of the cup, but you’ll probably get a price on them winning the final.
Gordon Elliott is driving Willie Mullins on – the Irish will remain dominant but the wheel will turn eventually
RW: Gordon Elliott had a brilliant weekend at Down Royal. He is the one that keeps driving Willie Mullins forward, then there’s the likes of Henry de Bromhead and Gavin Cromwell who are driving Gordon forward. Every sport requires competition.
The Irish dominance of the racing isn’t going away just yet, but that wheel will eventually turn, just not yet. There’s a lot of good horses in Ireland and a lot of people who are investing big money in Irish racing, which is a huge help. The success will have to keep coming and you just don’t know what the next generation will bring.
Fair play to Frankie Dettori for going on I’m A Celebrity – I wouldn’t do it but I also wouldn’t be asked
RW: For sure, anything anyone can do to paint the sport in a positive light is good in my book. I wish him well, can’t say it is something that appeals to me but fair play to him. He is still fit, riding extremely well, loves what he’s doing and look, he has the chance to go and forge another career so fair play to him.
Constitution Hill is the flagbearer for British racing – the Irish are coming for him though
RW: Of course they can, any horse can. Is it likely? Probably not but people are always going to have a go at him.
People always had a go at Kauto Star, always had a go at Big Buck’s, Hurricane Fly and they will always have a go at Constitution Hill. Eventually they all got beaten too. Look, he’s a great horse, the flagbearer for English National Hunt racing but look, the Irish are coming for him.
Graham Lee managed to do what a lot of jockeys can’t – these accidents don’t happen often but once is too many
RW: I know him very well, I rode with him for a long time. He was very dedicated to his craft, a gentleman obviously and gave everything to his profession. I just feel so sorry for him, you hope that every bit of news you get going forward is positive and my thoughts are with him, Becky and his kids. It is a very worrying time for them and you just hope that god is good.
They don’t happen often but once is too often. We all know the risks involved but you just hope it never happens to anybody.
He is such a good jockey, very stylish and tactical, he managed to do what a lot of people can’t, which is go from a very successful National Hunt jockey to a very successful flat jockey. How many jockeys have won Grand Nationals and then Group Ones on the Flat? Not many.
It’s a fair double – an Ascot Gold Cup on Trip To Paris and then a Grand National on Amberleigh House – that doesn’t happen by luck.
Ruby Walsh’s horses to follow this season
RW: What’s created the impression so far and what’s to come but from what I have seen so far this year, I think that Found A Fifty was very impressive at Down Royal in the novice chase, Grangeclare West was impressive at Naas on Sunday and also Affordale Fury was very good at Galway at the end of October.
In the UK, I thought that Iroko was very good at Warwick, I really liked Stay Away Fay at Exeter and Knappers Hill at Exeter. Both of them looked impressive in the chasing division.
Over the hurdles in the UK, I really liked Personal Ambition at Warwick, Willmount at Newbury, and Deafening Silence was tough at Exeter for the Skelton’s.
In Ireland, Mahon’s Way and Slade Steel looked really good for Henry de Bromhead, Brighter Days Ahead and Down Memory Lane for Gordon Elliott too, Ile Atlantique for Willie Mullins, and Redstone for Gavin Cromwell.
Cromwell has a big team and they are in really good form, he had a brilliant October festival at Cheltenham and has trained Cheltenham Festival winners.
