RUBY WALSH ADDED another milestone to his decorated career as a jockey yesterday when he travelled to Far Hills in New Jersey.
Stepping in for the injured Jack Doyle, Walsh rode the Cyril Murphy-trained Rawnaq to victory over two and a half miles in the US Grand National — a $350,000 race which is the most lucrative over jumps in North America.
The result means Walsh has now won Grand Nationals in seven different countries, having previously done so in Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Australia and Japan.
After flying across the Atlantic for the ride, Walsh is due to be back on Irish soil this afternoon, when he’s scheduled for four rides at Cork Racecourse in Mallow.
“It went really well,” Walsh said. “Very, very lucky for me, unfortunately his usual jockey Jack Doyle got a very bad fall in Belmont a few weeks ago and got some pretty nasty injuries so he wasn’t able to ride him today. There was a spare ride for me and I’m very appreciative of the phone-call to come and ride him.”
He added: “I didn’t need to be asked twice. I thought he was a really good ride, I thought he was the best steeplechase horse in America. It’s a huge purse and I don’t know of any steeplechase on anywhere else in the world worth this money this weekend, so when I got the opportunity to ride him I was always going to come.”
