Ruby Walsh

It was the 213th Grade One win for Walsh.

Rupert "Ruby" Walsh (born 14 May 1979 in Kill, County Kildare, Ireland) is an Irish former jockey.

He is the second child, and eldest son, of former champion amateur jockey Ted Walsh and his wife Helen.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest National Hunt jockeys of all time, Walsh is the third most prolific winner in British and Irish jump racing history behind only Sir Anthony McCoy and Richard Johnson.

Showing talent from an early age, Walsh won the Irish amateur title twice, in 1996/97 (aged 18) and 1997/98, before turning professional.

To date Walsh has been 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.

Walsh's recent dominance of the jockeys' championship in Ireland is all the more remarkable given that for 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 rides predominantly for Willie Mullins in Ireland.

Formerly 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.

Walsh also takes the occasional ride for his father, Ted, and a variety of other Irish trainers.

He won the English Grand National in 2000 at his first attempt, aged 20, on Papillon, a horse trained by his father and owned by Mrs J Maxwell Moran.

Father and son then went on to win the Irish Grand National with Commanche Court the same year.

Walsh has one of the best Grand National records amongst current jockeys having won the race twice (2000, 2005), finished second once (2006), third once (2009) and fourth twice (2001, 2002).

To date Walsh has ridden over 2500 winners including 59 winners at the Cheltenham Festival since his first win in 1998 on Alexander Banquet.

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.

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 currently riding to have won all four Nationals.

He won the Hennessy Gold Cup twice, in 2003 on Strong Flow, and in more recent times, 2009 with Denman.

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.

These include the 2004 Queen Mother Champion Chase on Azertyuiop, the 2007 and 2009 Cheltenham Gold Cup on the favourite, Kauto Star and two subsequent Queen Mother successes in 2008 and 2009 on the brilliant Master Minded.

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

He also won both the 2006 Tingle Creek Chase and the King George VI Chase on Kauto Star.

He ended the 2006/07 season with a combined total in Ireland and the UK of 198 winners, higher than any other jockey from either country that year.

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.

In 2007, Walsh won the inaugural British Horseracing Board Jockeys' Order of Merit award.

In January 2007, Walsh achieved the fastest ever century of winners in Irish jumps racing history aboard Bluestone Lad at Gowran Park.

(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.

On the second day of the 2010 festival he rode Sanctuaire to victory in the Fred Winter Juvenile Novices Handicap Hurdle and therefore became the jockey with the most wins in the history of the Cheltenham festival.

He reclaimed the King George VI Chase in 2011 on board Kauto Star after Long Run won the race in 2010.

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 at the Cheltenham Festival.

In August 2015 Walsh won the Australian Grand National on Bashboy.

He equalled that record at the 2016 Cheltenham Festival.

He won his 2,500 race on Au Quart De Tour at Gowran park on 20 January 2016.

As of 2019, Walsh is the Festival's most successful rider with 59 wins and has won the leading rider's award eleven times within the last fourteen years.

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.