Winning the first on Papillon was my all-time best ride; the feeling was just amazing...so special

Ruby Walsh, two-time Grand National Champion jockey, is a man in demand. I’m standing in the weighing room at Wincanton Racecourse at the arse-end of nowhere waiting for the star attraction to arrive.

I’m not the only journalist here, but I’m becoming a bit flustered and uncomfortable. I’ve been told Walsh can be a bit difficult – a great guy, albeit one with a temper and who has something of an ego. I’ve interviewed plenty of those, but for some reason, I’m not at ease with this.

It doesn’t help that time’s not on my side. Walsh is racing at 1pm and our meeting is scheduled for 11.30am. Any cock-ups and it’s a long drive from Somerset back to London, and so I’m here nice and early, taking in the surroundings of the cold but very crisp West Country air.

No sweat

‘I’ve a meeting with Ruby Walsh,’ I explain to the old chap guarding the players’ lounge door. Ruby is in the sauna. ‘Okay, I’ll wait over here.’ 11.30am breezes past, midday approaches and every reply is the same: ‘He’ll be ready when he’s ready.’ If you’ve ever wondered how long it takes jockeys to sweat off a few pounds before weighing in, I can tell you the answer: too bloody long.

Getting towards 12.20pm and a sighting. Walsh swings open the double doors leading into the weighing room and approaches. On his face is a look that suggests, firstly, he hasn’t got a clue who the hell I am and, secondly, he’s not that bothered anyway. Tamely shaking my hand while looking elsewhere, he turns to look me in the eye and says: ‘Just give us five minutes will ya, I’ve got to pop off and see somebody.’ Keep me waiting for an hour and then walk out on me the moment you arrive? Charming. Then again, I’m not the only person clamouring for Walsh’s attention.

Star treatment

And the wait isn’t entirely wasted, as it gives me time to appreciate just how popular this bloke is. The other jockeys waltz in and around the weighing room and go pretty much unnoticed, but as Walsh walks across the forecourt towards the sponsors’ office, he’s mobbed by autograph hunters. He’s happy to scribble away, for all the world a man with time on his hands who’s only too happy to indulge the punters, not a man racing in little over half an hour. On his return, he starts to offer his apologies, knowing we’re right up against it now. ‘Look, I’m really sorry to keep ya,’ he says, ‘Where do ya want to sit?’

I open my notebook and paperwork flies everywhere. Walsh leans down to lend a hand picking it up: ‘Is this my life story you have here?’ Hardly, but he has certainly been a busy boy. As we begin to talk, his attention is mixed again and his mind is elsewhere. He’s riding the opening-race favourite and now it’s his turn to keep an eye on the clock.

Despite the grey flecks, at 26 he’s young for a rider with so much success behind him. His record is quite staggering: after turning professional in 1998, the then-18-year-old rode 96 winners to claim the Irish Championship that year, and he hasn’t lost that winning feeling since. Following his double National successes in 2000 and 2005, the Irishman has quickly stepped up as the face to possibly dethrone that of Tony McCoy. His big-race pedigree makes him the jockey of the moment, described by some racing experts as ‘totally reliable’.

‘After winning the National in 2000, my life changed dramatically,’ says Walsh. ‘The feeling was unbelievable. It was a dream come true, and the second time was just the icing on the cake. There’s a huge feeling of relief when you cross that finishing line.’ Okay, so relief isn’t the first word I’d imagine feeling after winning the National, but then I don’t spend my days shouldering the hopes of thousands of punters, riding expensive jumps horses around some of the world’s most prestigious tracks.

‘Winning the first on Papillon was my all-time best ride; the feeling was just amazing... so special, and all the more because the horse was trained by my father [Ted Walsh, a top trainer and TV pundit]. He has been my biggest inspiration and has taught me pretty much everything I know.’

The luck of the Irish

With the Cheltenham Festival and National approaching, how’s life for the new superstar of the jumps season? ‘My preparation has been going well all season. I’ve been lucky with injuries, to be honest.’ As he says this, Walsh leans over towards a wooden table before giving it a healthy knock. Not one to walk under ladders, then?

‘I always have to see two magpies. In the past, I’ve had some pretty hard times with injuries, but broken bones mend, don’t they? The hardest stage of my career was the death of Kieran Kelly [the jump jockey who died after falling on Balmy Native in 2003].’

Getting down to brass tacks – gambling – and immediately an interesting development. The papers, and indeed this very magazine, have of late been full of stories of celebrity sportsmen such as Frankie Dettori who love a punt of one sort or another. But Walsh, whose very name is a draw for many hunting bankers in races up and down the country all year round, doesn’t seem to be much of a gambler himself. Intimating that being unable to gamble on the horses is apparently no loss to him, he explains that he likes to keep his money ‘safe’.

Safe? Not convinced, I switch direction to the other passion in his life, Manchester United. Okay, so he might not be a master of the spreads or exchanges, but surely he can’t resist the odd flutter at the start of every season on the Reds to win the league or Ruud van Nistelrooy for top goalscorer?

Promisingly, he’s only too happy to talk football: ‘My greatest moment as a supporter will always be the treble of 1999. I was at the Nou Camp and it was magnificent. To get back to where we once were will take some doing, though: it’s been one of those difficult seasons for us.’

Champion form

But just as we are getting somewhere, the starting gate opens and Walsh bolts. Or, he will do in a few minutes, providing he can get on the right side of the rail in time.

Deflated, I’m heading to the bar when I realise I’ve still time to get on the first race. Raffaello, the 10/11 favourite, is ridden by one R Walsh. Might as well. Walsh duly delivers – race after race after race across the day. Four winners and one place from the seven events that Saturday. If you’d simply torn up the form books and just followed the jockey, you could’ve banked a tidy profit. He may not be into gambling, but, on his day, Walsh is about as close to a racing certainty as a mug punter can get. No wonder they all want his autograph.