Mark Walsh is halfway to achieving a clean sweep of the four Championship races at the Cheltenham Festival and the Irishman will be hoping to add to his tally in 2025.
Age: 38 |
Height: 5ft 11in |
Wins: 832 |
Cheltenham Festival wins: 10 |
Total winnings: £9,940,666 |
Kildare-born Walsh partnered his first winner at Punchestown in September 2002 when steering home Shrug for trainer Marcus Callaghan.
The Clane native has gone on to forge a good career, renowned among his peers as a steady pair of hands, and utilised by many of Ireland's leading trainers.
He gained his first Grade 1 win on Paul Nolan's Defy Logic at Leopardstown on St Stephen's Day in 2013 in the Racing Post Novice Chase as they beat Trifolium and Champagne Fever into the minor placings.
Walsh became a regular in the JP McManus colours in Ireland and in 2020, when Barry Geraghty retired from the saddle, he was named as retained rider for the powerful owner.
Walsh is among the tallest of jockeys in the Irish weighing room, standing 5ft 11in.
Walsh has 10 Cheltenham Festival winners to his name. His first was Bleu Berry in the 2018 Coral Cup and his most recent was Majborough in the Triumph Hurdle in 2024.
His biggest success in the Cotswolds came in 2019 when Espoir d'Allen won the Champion Hurdle for trainer Gavin Cromwell and McManus, defeating Melon by 10 lengths after the McManus first string, Buveur D'air, had fallen early on in the race.
Sadly, Espoir d'Allen never raced again, following a freak accident the following December at home in Cromwell's yard.
Walsh added a second Championship-race win in 2023 when 33/1 shot Sire De Berlais, trained by Gordon Elliott, denied stablemate Teahupoo in a thriller.
His other Grade 1 winners in the Cotswolds include Fact To File in the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase (2024), City Island in the Ballymore Novices' Hurdle (2019) and Vanillier in the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle (2021).
He also has multiple Grade 1 successes at Aintree's Grand National Festival including Sire Du Berlais winning successive Liverpool Hurdles in 2022 and 2023 and Fakir D'oudairies landing the Melling Chase in 2021 and 2022.
At home, Walsh's major wins include the Irish Gold Cup on Carlingford Lough, the WillowWarm Gold Cup on Spillane's Tower and the Champion Stayers Hurdle at the Punchestown Festival on Jezki – all in the famous silks of McManus.
Walsh has ridden for most of the top trainers in Ireland, including Willie Mullins, Gavin Cromwell, Edward O'Grady, Padraig Roche, Enda Bolger, Joseph O'Brien, Tom Mullins, Gordon Elliott, Martin Brassil, Noel Meade and Tony Martin.
He has first pick of the McManus-owned horses in any race, irrespective of where they are trained, as part of his retainer.
Champion Hurdler Espoir d'Allen is assured a special place in Walsh's heart after their scintillating Cheltenham Festival win, while the battler Sire Du Berlais also gave the jockey his share of big-race wins.
He had a strong association too with Fakir D'oudairies in his pomp, winning five Graded races together.
Defy Logic was his breakthrough winner at the top level, while Jezki, Simply Ned, Carlingford Lough, Aramax, Bleu Berry, Captain Cee Bee, Gilgamboa, Janidil, Early Doors, Battleoverdoyen and Vanillier are some of the others on which Walsh has thrived.