Eoin Walsh

I’m 26 and from Banteer, which is near Mallow, in Co Cork. I was delighted to ride my fiftieth winner recently which reduced my claim to 3lb. It’s something that had been on my mind for a while so it was great to get it done.

My father was into horses and there were always horses at home. I grew up riding ponies and came up through the ranks that way. I rode a couple of winners in pony racing but I was late getting to it. Then I got an amateur licence and I rode in point-to-points for John Joe Walsh. That was a good grounding to me and gave me the experience that I needed. I never rode a winner as an amateur. After I turned conditional at the age of 21, my first winner was for Noel Meade on just my second ride as a conditional. That year flew then, I rode seventeen winners. I had gone to Noel while I was still amateur and turned when I was there.

I broke my collarbone halfway through my second season and that stunted my momentum. I spent three months on the sidelines and it was hard to come back and get back to the same level where I had been.

I rode some cracking horses for Noel including Thedevilscoachman. I won a bumper on him at Naas on his debut.

Cap York was a standout winner. I rode him to win the Leinster National at Naas in 2020 and that would have been my first big handicap win. It was good timing just coming up to Cheltenham and secured me three rides at the festival. Tout Est Permis gave me a great ride when he was third in the Pertemps Final. I turned for home upsides in front. It was magical and I’ll take that moment with me as long as I live, turning in there and hearing the roar of the crowd. I was in between Barry Geraghty and Davy Russell on Sire Du Berlais and The Storyteller and they went away from me down to the last but my lad ran his heart out in third.

I’ve had a couple of spins around the National fences at Aintree as well and completed both times,including on Tout Est Permis in the Becher Chase. That was a good buzz and it’s nice to say you got around there safely.

I’m very grateful to Noel. I got some great opportunities from him. I spent four years there but the fact that he’s increasing his Flat numbers had a knock-on effect to me and I’m freelance since the start of this year.

Last season was just a lean year and it was tough to get outside rides. I’m in with Ciaran Murphy now on a regular basis and I work part-time with HRI in the evenings as well. I live in Meath so I’m not too far from Ciaran’s yard in Mullingar and I’m there two mornings a week. He’s trainer on the up and a shrewd man, he leaves no stone unturned. Hopefully going forward, we can build on the couple of winners that we’ve had lately. I’m in with Tom Gibney a bit too and Garry Cribbin is my agent. Over the last couple of seasons I’ve been lucky to ride for a broad base of trainers and you kind of build up relationships with them. That’s important in picking up spare rides.

The part-time role with HRI is kind of my plan B. I do a bit of everything for them. I’m enjoying race-riding as much as ever but it’s good to have another option in terms of my future. I’ve been doing online courses at night, business courses and things, just trying to better myself. When I didn’t take up my college offers after the Leaving, I promised my mother that I’d go back as a mature student. I’m mature now but I’m not a student!

I’m quite realistic about my riding career. I didn’t grow up saying I wanted to be a jockey and I did a good Leaving Cert and got accepted into college and just never went. I suppose somewhere along the road to college I was bitten by the bug. I wanted to give being a jockey a go, more so to prove it to myself, and that’s why I’m proud of my fiftieth winner because it’s probably something that I never thought I would achieve. Fifty winners would be a bad year for Paul Townend but for someone like me, it’s tough to get there.

I’m quite tall and I struggle a bit with my weight. I can do around 10st 7lbs at the moment and that’s a good weight for me but I have to work hard at it, I run every day and watch my diet. Some days when you’re doing light, you mightn’t be eating at all. In fairness, there’s a lot more supports in place now in terms of managing weight and even in the short space of time that I’ve been a professional jockey, the changes have been massive and things are really progressing.

It’s more mentally challenging than physically challenging to keep the weight under control. Being a jockey can be very rewarding but it’s a tough way of life. Being on the couch when you’re out injured and watching horses win that you would have been on is probably the worst part of it.

I’m enjoying the riding at the moment and I had three winners in May and I’m keen and looking for the next one. I’m kind of taking things day by day. It’s hard to walk away from being a jockey. It would be hard to mimic the feeling of riding winners, it’s hard to replace that, so as long as I can keep riding a few winners I’ll be happy.