Ruby Walsh picked up numerous injuries during his 24 years in the saddle, with arguably the worst of all coming before he even became a household name.
Back in 1999 at the age of just 20, he broke his leg in the Great Pardubice Steeplechase in the Czech Republic. Unfortunately for Ruby, his dad Ted was seemingly none the wiser about what a broken leg looked like.
Ruby and Ted recalled the ropey medical advice, his early memories of his dad’s Grenhills Farm in County Kildare and the journey to becoming one of the greatest riders of all-time in Paddy Power’s special Racing Icons series.
MORE FROM PADDY POWER’S RACING ICONS DOCUMENTARY WITH RUBY…
- I took Annie Power home for the summer… and horse joined our family BBQs!
- My biggest Cheltenham regret and one race I’d love to have a second chance at
RUBY: I don’t remember life without horses. Growing up at my Dad’s Greenhills Farm was fun and there was always something to do.
We’d spend hours in the hay barn as kids, riding ponies in the sand ring or swinging from the rafters on ropes above the hay. That’s what you did growing up as kid around here in those days.
From the age of around 12 or 13 I always hoped I could be a jockey. But I never thought it would actually come true. It’s like when teenagers decide they want to be a footballer or a rugby player, I wanted to ride horses.
I can’t remember my first competitive race, but I do remember racing ponies against each other as kids. I loved it.
MORE FROM RUBY:
- The racing memory which still sends shivers down my spine
- Horses can’t be turned off like cars… they need fine turning for coronavirus lockdown
- I fell off a horse as a kid – my next memory was being in Naas hospital
TED: He was always a nice rider. Very natural, good seat, nice gentle hands. Beautiful to watch.
I was a bit like my own parents, I didn’t really encourage or discourage him getting into the horse racing game. At a young age he learned setbacks are just around the corner. Getting injuries and the like.
Anyone who is a father doesn’t want to see their children getting injured, you’d rather take it yourself.
I remember in the Czech Republic when he broke his leg back in 1999. The first thing I said was ‘ah, your leg isn’t broken, get up, give me your hand’.
RUBY: I was lying there on the ground at the bottom of the home straight, and I don’t know where he appeared out of.
I said ‘my leg is broken’. He said ‘it’s not, it’s not’. I got up and of course my leg couldn’t take me and down I went again.
He looked at me and said ‘Ah, it might be broken’.
I thought ‘yeah, I know it’s broken!’.
MORE FROM PADDY POWER’S RACING ICONS DOCUMENTARY WITH RUBY…
- I took Annie Power home for the summer… and horse joined our family BBQs!
- My biggest Cheltenham regret and one race I’d love to have a second chance at