OVER THE PAST 13 years, Ruby Walsh has walked away from Cheltenham as the top jockey 10 times.

Put short, his strike rate at Prestbury Park is phenomenal.

Of course, it helps when you have the pick of the yard for Paul Nicholls and, more recently, Willie Mullins, but his achievement cannot be understated with only Tony McCoy (25) within a dozen of his 32 Cheltenham race wins.

However, while Walsh is still the heavy favourite (8/15), at least some of the tide appears to be turning away from the Kildare man this year with one bookmarker claiming that 60% of the bets they’ve received in this particular market are for Bryan Cooper (10/1) to be Top Jockey at this year’s festival.

Cooper, of course, will have the pick of the Gigginstown runners this week, including the likes of A Toi Phil, Apple’s Jade, Alpha Des Obeaux, Tombstone, Dinaria Des Obeaux, Disko, Death Duty, Petit Mouchoir and Empire Of Dirt.

Ruby isn’t exactly stuck for quality rides himself over the course of the week, and will fancy his chances on the likes of Yorkhill, Melon, Un de Sceaux, Shaneshill, Vroum Vroum Mag and Limini — though the last two may well still race against each other.

With Barry Geraghty ruled out, Mark Walsh is likely to pick up his choice of the JP McManus stable of horses — including the Champion Hurdle favourite Yanworth — and is the second favourite (6/1) in the Top Jockey market despite never having ridden a winner around Prestbury Park to date.

As for the English contenders, Champion Jockey Richard Johnson and Nico de Boinville are available at 14/1 and 12/1 respectively but neither appear to have the volume of quality rides to challenge the Irish raiders.

However, if Ruby gets to four wins, it’s difficult to see anyone challenging for his crown as the King of Prestbury Park.