IF you look up the definition of ‘letting your riding do the talking’, there ought to be a picture of Mark Walsh right alongside it. What a way of responding to all the noise about Harry Cobden’s incoming as J.P. McManus’ number-one rider by rattling off four Grade 1 winners for his boss, positively positioning each of them with real intent.

Many have speculated on what the future holds for Walsh given that, as of next season, Cobden will have the pick of each of his DRF winners - including the two highest-rated horses in training right now (Majborough and Fact To File both promoted to 174 after the bank holiday weekend).

While seemingly not widely picked up on in the aftermath of Leopardstown’s two-day meeting, a line from Willie Mullins in the post-Irish Gold Cup press huddle pricked my ears as to a potentially interesting link up in 2026/’27 for the now 46-time Grade 1-winning rider.

Asked about Walsh’s barnstorming performances at the DRF, considering he entered the meeting against a difficult background, Willie Mullins said: “Mark is a tip-top rider. He’s going to get some fantastic rides from J.P.; he has a lot of horses there. That’ll leave him more scope to ride other horses for other yards - more of my horses as well.”

He added: “Mark has always performed very well. I never had any doubt about Mark performing well [coming into this weekend]. He’s ridden plenty of Grade 1 winners and big winners for me, and J.P. before. He’s a top rider.”

Irish focus

Make no mistake, the number-one McManus role is a position that is Irish-dominated. For example, in the 2024/’25 National Hunt season in Ireland, there were 178 individual horses owned by McManus running for Irish trainers. He ran 68 horses for British trainers in the same season.

Who had the biggest number of McManus runners in Britain? The answer is Ben Haslam with 14. In fact, 10 of those were horses McManus had moved from yards in Ireland, often runners coming towards the second half of their careers. Willie Mullins had more horses on the track solely in McManus ownership than anyone else, with 27 last season.

Behind Haslam, those supported with the most McManus horses in Britain last term were Jonjo and A J O’Neill (13) and Nicky Henderson (12) - well down on Mullins’ numbers. The vast majority of green-and-gold quantity - and quality - is found on Irish shores.

The point of flagging this is that there will surely be scenarios where McManus is doubly-represented in Irish contests, and Walsh has given the 22-time champion owner of Ireland plenty to think about when it comes to receiveing support with those secondary runners next season. His extensive knowledge of and experience with the owner’s horses will surely be an advantage to him early on next season, as Cobden makes his initial riding decisions, getting to know McManus’ Irish string and unconventional Irish courses.

On the prospect of a Mullins involvement with Walsh, as his the trainer’s comments suggested, it looks a no-brainer. Beyond the obvious with stable jockey Paul Townend, we saw last season that Mullins supplied Grade 1 winners to Patrick Mullins, Danny Mullins, Sean O’Keeffe, Daryl Jacob (through his Munir and Souede role), Jody Townend and Jonjo O’Neill Jr (as well as Walsh himself). The likes of Brian Hayes, J.J. Slevin, Harry Cobden and the now-retired Jody McGarvey and Adrian Heskin have all got on the feature-race scoresheet for Closutton over the last three seasons as well.

Grade 1 chances

In Ireland alone this season, Mullins has given rides to 28 individual jockeys, with winners for Sean Cleary-Farrell, Anna McGuinness, Gavin Brouder, Kieran Callaghan and Jack Kennedy, as well as Grade 1 mounts for Johnny Shinnick, Danny Gilligan and Derek O’Connor.

There will surely be enough quantity to go around for Walsh to be factored into Mullins’ plans, and what experience the champion trainer would be adding to his team of riders too. Yes, all Walsh’s Grade 1s over the weekend came in the green and gold, but they also came for Mullins. The pair have amassed 19 top-level prizes together.

It’s worth remembering too that Walsh’s first Cheltenham Festival winner came on a non-McManus-owned runner for Mullins, 20/1 shot Bleu Berry in the 2018 Coral Cup. The 39-year-old has also had outside winning rides at Cheltenham on Vanillier (Gavin Cromwell) in the 2021 Albert Bartlett and City Island (Martin Brassil) in the 2019 Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle.

Less than 12 months ago, Walsh would have been leading rider at the Cheltenham Festival only to be beaten on a countback of placed finishes for Paul Townend. Like last weekend at Leopardstown, he delivered the goods when the chips were down, including in his giant-slaying of Galopin Des Champs in the Blue Riband event on Inothewayurthinkin last March.

In one way, Walsh’s unassuming persona as a rider has made him the perfect fit for the McManus role; being totally dedicated to the colours and seemingly never allowing any distractions, never really engaging with media (beyond post-race debriefings). He isn’t one to share his personality with the public and certainly won’t be seen embarking on any Frankie Dettori-style farewell tour, whenever the time comes for him to hang up his boots.

Narrative changing

In another way, that apparent preference to deflect attention away from himself may also inadvertently have led to a slight underappreciation of his talents.

As was wisely pointed out to me by a hugely experienced racing person in a conversation recently, when the likes of Fact To File won at last year’s Cheltenham Festival, the narrative around the success tends to be dubbing it as a ‘Willie Mullins winner’, a ‘J.P. McManus winner’. Very rarely is it immediately painted as a ‘Mark Walsh winner’. Other top jockeys seem to receive that identification much easier.

Funnily, though, you could argue that public support and backing of Walsh has never been stronger than it is right now, after many felt the news of Cobden’s appointment could have been dealt with better, rather than delivered in the thick of the current season (also no mention of Walsh’s name in the McManus statement revealing the news).

If Fact To File collects at this year’s Festival, you can bet that the public and media will be giving their dues to the rider as one of the main factors in the story.

Since January 12th, when the Cobden news was publicly confirmed, Walsh has won on 10 of his 40 rides for a 25% strike rate. The jockey known for saying little has been making his voice heard in the way he knows best.