Walsh enjoys 900th winner

As a Kildare native who grew up in thrall to racing in Clane and learned the game under the gaze of Christy Roche at The Curragh, Mark Walsh could not have wished for a better place to record his 900th winner as a jockey than Punchestown and at the Punchestown Festival.

This was where Walsh rode his first winner, appositely named Shrug, for Marcus Callaghan in a 0-109 handicap hurdle on September 29, 2002 and it is where he reached a landmark very few jockeys can ever dream of, not a million miles from a quarter of a century later.

It arrived on board the brilliant Dinoblue (2/5f) in the Grade 2 Hanlon EBF Glencaraig Lady Mares’ Chase and it was an appropriate winner in more than one way, as owner JP McManus’ racing manager, Frank Berry, rode Glencaraig Lady to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1972.

This was about Walsh though and he rode another masterful race, charting a wide path in search of less watered ground, as Keith Donoghue sought to ask a different question than often posed of the favourite by making the running on Only By Night, who had chased Dinoblue home in the Mares’ Chase at Cheltenham..

There was an air of inevitability about proceedings entering the final three-quarters of a mile, however, though there was a scare when Dinoblue took off too early at the third-last and just about made it to the other side, scattering plenty of birch in getting from A to B.

She was able to cruise home from there, however, with fellow Willie Mullins trainee, Spindleberry picking up the pieces from a long way back to plunder runner-up prize money, a flattering six and a half lengths behind.

“Brilliant,” said the understated Walsh, appreciative but eschewing animation. 

“Starting out you just want to lose your claim and then when you want to lose your claim you want to ride big winners so to get 900 is brilliant.

“She was brilliant bar the third-last. She was meeting it a little wrong and she just came and was brave but that was the only blip. She was great. She can do it from the front, from the back, two miles, two and a half, two mile six, she’s very versatile. She can win at any trip and she likes it here.

“She’s a joy. She’s so easy to ride.”