Katie's week of a lifetime*

Katie Walsh and Poker De Sivola image:betfair.com

“My first memory of Cheltenham is when I went there in 1997. Dad had a horse running in the Triumph Hurdle. It was my first time ever in Cheltenham and my first proper memory of it. When Commanche Court won it was great. It’s difficult enough to get horses good enough to go over there and to go there with Dad and win was special.”

Katie Walsh’s first experience of Cheltenham was a winning one, thanks to a very special horse. She was only twelve years old when Commanche Court gave her father Ted his first winner as a trainer at the festival, when he won the Triumph Hurdle. It was the first top class victory f

Commanche Court is linked to Katie’s first Cheltenham festival ride as she wore his famous white and navy silks on Dermot Desmond’s Never Compromise. “The first time I rode in the festival it was for Dad. I rode Never Compromise in the cross country chase.”

The allure of Cheltenham has a strong pull for everyone involved in racing, she explains. “Everyone wants to have a ride in Cheltenham just to be a part of the whole thing, whether they have a chance of winning or not. To walk down the chute and come back in front of the crowd is just fantastic.”

The best horses and trainers take each other on in front of huge crowds and in a frenzied and intense atmosphere. It is racing’s Olympics and having a Cheltenham winner is the dream of everyone involved in racing.

“It’s top class racing with Grade Ones and big handicaps every day. Everyone wants to have a winner there. It’s the Olympics of jump racing because you have the Gold Cup, the best two mile chasers, the best hurdlers and the handicaps are top class,” she explains.

“You have the best horses of the year coming together to take each other on and then there is the rivalry between England and Ireland. It’s the ultimate competition. It’s like Usain Bolt taking on the other sprinters in the Olympics,” Katie continues.

Katie became the third member of her family to ride a Cheltenham festival winner in 2010. Riding the Ferdy Murphy trained Poker De Sivola, in the National Hunt Chase,  she made her own Cheltenham dream come true. The finish was fought out by two of Ireland’s finest amateur jockeys. It was a thrilling battle to the line and in a tight finish Katie prevailed over her good friend, and now sister in law, Nina Carberry.

Leaving Kildare for Cheltenham little did she know just what an incredible week awaited her. “I didn’t have a ride going there. We were going out on the Sunday night and when we were going to the airport Ferdy Murphy rang and asked me to ride Poker de Sivola in the four miler and I jumped at the chance. Then I picked up the ride on Thousand Stars in the County Hurdle for Willie.”

Her first Cheltenham success was achieved in the amateur ranks but two days later Katie was celebrating a second festival winner. Thousand Stars powered up the Cheltenham hill to victory in the ultra competitive County Hurdle. Katie and the dashing grey left the professionals, including AP McCoy and her brother Ruby trailing in their wake but for her it was just about having a festival winner.

“It was great to get the opportunity. I never really thought about beating the professionals or about Ruby. I just thought about the race,” she explains.

I didn’t have a ride and never did I think I’d have a winner. It was an amazing week and it’s a week that I will never forget,” Katie adds.

At the time of going to press Katie’s rides for this week’s festival were unconfirmed but one thing’s for certain, this member of racing royalty has the talent and skill to take on and beat the boys again. “I hope to have a ride in the Kim Muir and the four miler. Hopefully I will have a ride in the amateur races but I don’t know yet.”

*This article first appeared in The Nationalist 13 March 2012