HE welcomes you at the front door, the smoke he exhales more vivid in the zero-degree night.

You not given those up yet?

“For Lent,” comes the reply. “So the girls tell me anyway.”

He smiles broadly and ushers you in.

The Irish Field, February 2017

IT is 11 months later, equally as cold, but this time Ruby Walsh is at the back door, leaning on crutches, his right leg in a moon boot. The cigarette is gone and instead he is drawing on a vaporiser. As of five weeks ago, he is a father of four girls, with Erica having been brought into the world by Gillian to join Isabelle, Elsa and Gemma.

When you ask later about a jockey’s pain threshold, he reverts to childbirth and it is clear that he is in awe of Gillian.

“The human body’s an amazing thing. My wife has four kids. You talk about the human body forgetting pain?”

To have a second child even.

“There’s no f*****g way! The human body is incredible how you forget pain and get over pain.”

That is not to say that he didn’t suffer his own when Let’s Dance fell and at Punchestown on November 18th and he couldn’t extricate himself in time to avoid the mare rolling on him.

“Plenty, yeah. But every injury’s the same. The physical pain comes and goes. It’s the mental torture that kills ya.

“The Punchestown ambulance crew are deadly. They always have been. And Patricia Houlihan was working. She’s used to being in A & E in Beaumont. They were first class. I lay on the ground. I just opened my boot, said ‘My leg is broke’. He got the Entonox and they dealt with it.”

Turf Club chief medical officer Adrian McGoldrick is a god in the eyes of the weigh room and just one of the many changes he has overseen in raising standards of safety and general welfare for jockeys is the provision of morphine in ambulances. It wasn’t always the case.

“The only thing about morphine is – it’s an opiate like – but it makes me horrid emotional.”

Do you get angry? Or start crying?

“F*****g crying. Depressed. Whatever it does to ya, it affects people differently. It kills the pain alright but it depresses me.”

It was the first time the dangers of what he does for a living dawned on the children.

“Gillian came over to Naas Hospital and then I was transferred to Tallaght so she went home to get stuff and Isabelle had a bag packed for her. Pyjamas, a wash bag, toothbrush, so she was very aware of it. That would have been the first time that would have happened. She was grand but she was definitely aware of it.”

It may be that Isabelle was just wondering how soft her old man is to break a leg from a simple fall.

“Elsa rides too but Isabelle loves it. She got show jumps from Santy Claus for Christmas. She was out there last week, got a fall and the laughs out of her! She was laughing her head off. David Casey was here with me. She fell, covered from head to toe in muck, delighted with herself. Back up and go again.”

A peacock would have nothing on Isabelle’s father as he recounts the tale. Being around is a definite positive. He is on school runs these days and began the next step of his rehab at Santry Surgery Clinic this week. He remains a regular in Closutton too.

“Walk around, drink coffee, give out, tell them all what they’re doing wrong! I have an interest. I like watching what’s going on, seeing what’s happening, keeping the eye in. It’ll be in Santry three days a week and Willie’s three days a week. And Daddy Day Care.”

PAIN

BUT let’s bring it back to pain – the psychology that accompanies it. Knowing it is part and parcel of your job. There are few injuries Walsh hasn’t suffered, from head to toe. It is his third time alone breaking his leg.

“With a broken leg there’s nothing you can do for six weeks. You’re lying on the couch feeling sorry for yourself. I’d say it’s probably harder on the people you’re living with. You go into your own cocoon. You’re trying to watch what’s going on and be positive but you can’t. You’re here. Morning runs into night and you move on to tomorrow.”

It sounds grim.

“Time heals all. You move on and something else happens.”

At least Cheltenham wasn’t under threat but you wonder how he deals with mental side of it. Missing big winners. The knowledge that more physical agony is in the pipeline. Other high performance sportspeople use a variety of mental tools but it’s not for Walsh.

“Maybe I’m lucky. I never had to psyche myself up to ride a horse. I never had to psyche myself down out of a situation. I never had to look for any other motivation than the motivation that I had in myself. I wouldn’t get that down either because racing has been my life since I can ever remember. There was ups, downs and I don’t give a f**k who you are, there’s more downs than there is ups. You get injured, you’d be pissed off for a week but if you’re only pissed off for one week in a year you’re going well.

“You’re always hard on yourself to be as good as you can be but that’s the motivation that’s within yourself. I never needed anyone to tell me how good I was or telling me how bad I was. I just did it for myself. I did it because I wanted to do it.”

He doesn’t think the likes of legendary Kilkenny hurler Henry Shefflin or Ireland and Munster rugby great Ronan O’Gara had much truck with psychology. I disagree. Visualisation is a buzz word now.

“I suppose, to an extent, but I tend to trust my instincts. You do your homework as much as you can, figure out what’s going on and then there’s times when you have to trust your instincts and improvise.

“Is that the difference in racing? I’m never afraid to say I got that wrong. I did that wrong. I’d love another go at that. I watch golfers coming in. They could be six over but they played great. I can never figure it out. I’m definitely the complete opposite to what those lads are at. To come off the pitch and lads saying they played great and they were taken off after 40 minutes. Played a great game and his man scored 2-6. Who are ya codding?

“They come in and say they did that great, did this great, did the other great. But did you win? No. I’d be sitting there thinking ‘I played shite. I’m four over. Your man in front is six under. I’m 10 shots off the lead but I played great? I’d be sitting there at home thinking ‘Who are you codding?’ He’s only codding himself.”

I think that’s the point.

“Imagine how good they’d be if they told themselves the truth?”

TESTED POSITIVE

THE news that three jockeys had tested positive from one random set of samples taken at Galway last October shook racing.

“Yeah, I was surprised. Were some of the younger lads I spoke to surprised? They didn’t seem shocked but maybe that’s just their reaction, I don’t know. Cocaine is what it is in society. I’m 38 and no one’s ever offered it to me. People say it’s everywhere. It’s everywhere, I’m not.”

In other words, it is only to be found in certain circles. He is not judging Ger Fox, Danny Benson or Roger Quinlan but he is glad that the Turf Club are increasing bans for positive drugs tests, believing deterrents will help people make better decisions.

There was a time when jockeys were renowned for their drinking, providing some ease to their aching joints but also artificially continuing the adrenaline flow that comes with firing half a ton of horse flesh over a ditch at 35-40mph. Is cocaine the new drink?

“I was probably at the beginning of a different era. (Richard) Dunwoody had changed it, (A.P.) McCoy had changed it. I came after that. So I wasn’t in that hard-living era. I sat in the sauna with lads that knew how to play hard and they’d be telling stories. I’d be telling the young lads now and they’d be looking at you. ‘They couldn’t have done that!’ It was a different time and racing changed.

“I’m not judging anybody but I would say cocaine is a huge issue in law. I don’t understand how cocaine is illegal but if I test positive for it, am caught with it, why don’t I have a criminal conviction? It’s only if I’m intending to deal it. So there’s no deterrent. I’d say bringing in the drug testing with the drink-driving tests on the road could be a bigger deterrent now. The lawmakers have to do something about cocaine usage. I don’t think it’s a battle the Turf Club can fight. I was delighted to see that they are gonna do more tests and raise the length of bans to deter usage.”

Cocaine has been labelled as a recreational drug rather than performance-enhancing but studies suggest that people who use it retain less fat and that cocaine is an appetite suppressant. So perhaps it would have its uses for jockeys struggling with their weight?

“I’ve no idea,” he says, shaking his head. “But sure so does coffee suppress the appetite. A jar of Kenco is a good bit cheaper you’d think. Does it have the same effect as alcohol? If it gives you Dutch courage it’s a performance-enhancer.”

But then it could affect decision-making, or reflexes. He doesn’t know. All he knows is that making the price for taking it higher makes sense.

SYMPATHY

He may want stronger deterrents against using hard drugs in racing but that isn’t to say he hasn’t sympathy for the three suspended riders. Fox revealed during the week that Walsh and Davy Russell “both came up to me and put their arms around me. They told me to keep my head down, keep working and that I’d be back in no time. That was reassuring, I really appreciated it.”

It is notable how often Walsh’s name crops up in other jockeys’ interviews. Power revealed how the difficulties he had been having with double vision contributed to his unseat from Bobabout at the last in Gowran Park in October 2016 because he could not see the stride. He thought he had been covering up his difficulties but when he got back to the weigh room, he found Walsh ready to call Power’s wife Hannah to get her to stop her husband riding.

Bryan Cooper has spoken about Walsh’s advice with regard to ignoring the Twitter critics in particular. Jack Kennedy is another who has praised how available the Kildare man is.

IRISH INJURED JOCKEYS

Walsh is active in improving the jockeys’ lot in other ways too. He is a committee member of the Irish Jockeys Association, chairman of Irish Injured Jockeys. The introduction of an insurance scheme in the event of a career ending is a major progression brought about by the IJA.

IIJ has built on the groundwork of many heroes who established a variety of different of charities and trusts to aid injured jockeys or those that had fallen on hard times.

They all provided vital services but it dawned on the jockeys that they had no right to just sit back and be reliant on the endeavours of others. So they worked to streamline the various processes and bring everything under the one umbrella – providing a one-stop shop for funding, essential services and retraining, so that a jockey can move on with the next phase of his or her life as quickly as possible.

While donations will always be welcome, there is funding now to deal with any eventualities, catastrophic or otherwise. In recent years, they have purchased an exoskeleton machine for Jonjo Bright and are buying DEXA scan machine to test bone density that is going into RACE. They are making a financial contribution towards Dr McGoldrick’s continued research on helmets and will provide support to Kildare Order Of Malta to get a new ambulance.

“We are so appreciative of all that has been done in the past. We were so lucky. Everyone is pushing in the one way looking for the one thing, to provide essential services and raise funds. It’s just to streamline it all. That we’re at the end of the phone ready to go, ready to help you straight away. That’s what everyone wants.”

McGOLDRICK

He cannot hide his admiration for McGoldrick, who retires this year, and believes the secret of his success was his ability to work with the jockeys and present himself not as a threat to their livelihoods, but as someone who was trying to help them. That led to more honesty on their behalf and the standards of safety and welfare have raised markedly.

Meanwhile, racing continues and he predicts a hugely successful inaugural Dublin Racing Festival.

“It’s a great initiative. It’s a pain that I’m missing it. When it was launched I was thinking, ‘that’ll be some weekend.’ Leopardstown at Christmas had everything for drama. Highs and lows. If they were trying to advertise February, it couldn’t have went any better for them. The rematches you’ll have, the unanswered questions from Christmas. And they’re big enough races, with big enough money, that they’re not gonna be trials. That was the bit that sold me. There’s no-one gonna go here with the gun half-cocked. It’s dangling a carrot. There’s too much at stake.”

He will be on TV duty and it’ll scald him. But there are worse things. He’ll be just fine.

FAUGHEEN

“He did two canters this morning (Monday). I don’t know what happened (at Leopardstown). I just hope it doesn’t happen the next day. Paul (Townend) said he was never going, never felt happy. He could have bounced but when people talk about the bounce, what the f**k is the bounce? He never looked like winning, did he? I was in the north and watching it on a mobile phone but even on that, small and all as the screen was, I knew he was in trouble. What did Patrick say? ‘The Titanic sank, the Concorde crashed, Faugheen got beat’.”

YORKHILL

“I stuck my neck out and thought he was an out-and-out three-mile chaser all day, every day. I was shocked in the ring after in Leopardstown. He did too much but that’s him. Having said that, Balko Des Flos and Outlander went along second and third all the way and they finished second and third so it was disappointing to see him fade so far back. It was his first run of the year and we’ll see how he progresses.

“While he has to go left-handed, he’s never been an easy ride in Leopardstown. It’s so open, you never get enough cover down the inner with him. Where he’ll go and what he’ll do, I dunno but he’ll obviously go back in trip. He’d be an easier ride over fences than hurdles in Cheltenham anyway ‘cos the fences are against the running rail on the New Course. I’m afraid I’m scratching my head again but that said, he was always a head scratcher.”

UN DE SCEAUX

“He just has a huge appetite for racing. He loves it. He wants to go. He’s a wonderful little horse. He was good in Cork. It took a bit out of him. He’s hard on himself every day. He’ll go to the Clarence House and try win that for a third time. The option will be left open with him until we see what the ground is going to be like in Cheltenham. If you got a heavy ground Champion Chase, all those horses coming back with their first run of their year, they’d want their pipes open to follow him!”

MELON

“He’s come forward for the run in Cheltenham. That was his first run with the big boys. He’s definitely a better horse for it. The Champion Hurdle will be a stronger-run race, and on a different track – it’s on the Old Course – so that will definitely suit him. You’d imagine he’ll go to Leopardstown. He hasn’t a lot of experience and will be improving every day.”