REARED in a trading yard, Ted Walsh’s father Ruby generally ran horses to get some form that would attract a buyer. Ted’s uncle of the same name worked closely with his brother. Their father, Tom, bought troopers for the British Army during the First World War. It was always there.

Ted was an 11-time champion amateur jockey who rode four Cheltenham Festival winners, including Hilly Way in the Champion Chase in 1979. He had one success as a trainer, thanks to Commanche Court in the Triumph Hurdle in 1997.

He never trained more than 20 horses and has maintained those numbers throughout his 27 or so years as a trainer. Yet in Commanche Court, Papillon, Rince Ri, Seabass, Southern Vic, Foxrock, Jack High and Roc De Prince, he has had some good ones that between them accumulated 30 graded races, including five Grade 1s and a slew of top handicaps. For an operator of his scale to boast the type of CV that also includes the Aintree and Irish Grand Nationals – won within the space of 16 days in 2000 – is quite remarkable.

ANORAK

Walsh is a complete anorak, the type of who reads form books for fun. Pick a year, he has the book. His recall of dates and names is fabulous. During the course of more than two hours of conversation, I was treated to a potted history of horses from before their purchase, races, venues, riders, owners and medical history. It’s passion. It is what he has done all his life and approaching his 68th birthday next month (he doesn’t look a bit of it), what he will continue to do.

He does not have much time for trainers complaining about how difficult the game is, although like Tom Foley on these pages last week, he believes the powers-that-be could make it less difficult.

When he sits down for breakfast every morning, he looks up at the drawings of Commanche Court, Papillon and Rince Ri on the wall, thankful for everything he has ever had.

The Big Interview is always about the subject and what he or she has to say. If you have never met Ted Walsh and have only seen him on his media duties, you know he isn’t short of a word. His memory and prowess as a seanchaí is staggering. So the decision has been taken to adopt stenographer mode.

favourite time of the year

“For fellas like me, the smaller lads in the game, you’re looking at maybe bread in another man’s window, but at the same time you’re excited about it. I’ve been excited since I was a kid about Cheltenham, seeing if the horses will go and fulfil the promise you’ve seen right through the year.

“I was lucky enough to be born in the era of Tom Dreaper, and living with two people all my life, my father and Uncle Ted, who came from the era of Vincent O’Brien. So those great achievements have always been fresh in my mind. They spoke about Vincent and Aubrey Brabazon as I spoke about Tom Dreaper and Pat Taaffe, and lads are talking now about Ruby Walsh and Willie Mullins. There’s always people you associate with an era.”

CHELTENHAM MEMORY

“My earliest Cheltenham memory is Arkle beating Mill House. I remember that well because it was a big talking point. Arkle was with Tom Dreaper, Pat Taaffe was a local here down the road. I knew Pat all my life – knew him as Mr Taaffe when I was 10 or 12 but then knew him as Pat and rode his first winner as a trainer, at Punchestown. It was a mare called Russian Friend, owned by a local man Ted O’Connor.

“Mill House arrived on the scene and won his Gold Cup at six. Everyone thought he was the next Golden Miller, who won five Gold Cups. A big, brown horse, he’d been bred in Naas by the Lawlors and was actually broken by Pat.

“After Arkle won at Gowran in October, he went to the Hennessy. Mill House had 12 stone and Arkle had 11st 9lb. We all thought ‘this fella will clip his wings’. Arkle slipped at the back of the third last and Mill House got away from him and beat him well enough on the day. Of course that only verified it for the English, Mill House could give him 5lb and beat him well. The slip was only an excuse.

“Arkle came back and won his next couple here. Then he went back to Cheltenham. Mill House was 1/2 and Arkle was 2/1. Of course every Englishman was on Mill House and every Irishman was on Arkle. It was the big clash and Arkle beat him well. He went on and won three.

“Arkle had won two Gold Cups when Flyingbolt arrived. I was enthralled by the two of them but Flyingbolt did things for two seasons that I never even saw Arkle do. He was phenomenal. After he won the Cotswolds Chase, which is the Arkle now, he won all round him here. His prep run for the Champion Chase was the Thyestes. The Thyestes! He won the Thyestes with 12st 7lb. He won the Champion Chase a distance, in a canter. Tom Dreaper ran him the very next day in the Champion Hurdle and he was third.

“He came home after that and his next run was in the Irish National over three miles and five furlongs, and he beat Height Of Fashion, giving her 42lbs. Paddy Mullins, a great trainer himself and a great judge of horses, said that she was as good a mare as he ever trained. He was a fabulous horse. For that period of time, I thought I never saw a better horse in my life.”

TRAINING A WINNER TRUMPS RIDING ONE

“When you’re younger, you think this should nearly happen, at some stage. I was 24 when I rode Castleruddery, then Prolan, then Hilly Way, then Attitude Adjuster. I had plenty of rides on horses that were placed.

“Then I stopped riding and Commanche Court arrived after my Dad died.

“Tom Dreaper monopolised Cheltenham but there was only one Tom Dreaper. Vincent O’Brien did it in the late ‘40s and the ‘50s. But not many other people did it. There were two great amateurs before my time – Francis Flood and Bill McLernon. There was another great amateur before my time called Pat Hogan. They never rode a winner at Cheltenham so to actually ride a winner at Cheltenham was a big thing.

“Paddy Mullins was a great trainer. He only trained five winners at Cheltenham. I remember going to Cheltenham when we (the Irish) had one winner. And we had no winner. I brought Ruby and Jennifer there when Imperial Call won the Gold Cup and I said to them ‘now lads, enjoy this because this doesn’t happen too often’. And sure every year we’ve gone back there since it’s been better!

“I never took any of my winners for granted. I was over the moon when I won. Commanche Court was special… From the day he arrived to the day he died, he was special. A magic horse.”

THE 2002 GOLD CUP

“I often think of that. The thing about it is, he (Commanche Court) missed the second last a little bit and what he would do at the last then is he got high. He was careful. He was a great lepper but he wasn’t running away with bravery like Rince Ri. He’d jump everything well but if he made a mistake he’d be cautious at the next and he was cautious at the last. I’m not saying he’d have beat Best Mate but he was only beat one and three-quarters of a length. But it was a great day and a great time. I was fortunate to have him.

“I was blessed with Papillon, Rince Ri and Commanche Court to come together. Maybe for my own benefit they’d be better if they were spaced out one ever three or four years but I had the three of them together and I would consider myself very fortunate to have had them.

“I still have Rince Ri up in the field. I had Papillon until during the summer. Unfortunately Commanche got a twisted gut and I had to put him down. I’d keep them forever if I could. I love ‘em.”

SIZE OF THE OPERATION

“I’d say working on television was a negative – people thinking that you were maybe not taking training as serious as you should do. I’d say it was a negative. The Joneses didn’t think that, or Dermot Desmond. Neither does J.P. (McManus) or Betty Moran. But I would say working on television… people would like you or dislike you.

“He’s a bit too yappy” or “he’s too much of an opinion’’. Or “I don’t know if I’d like that fella’’.Where you might have the publicity of being well known, I’d say fellas mightn’t take to you as serious as they should.

“Now, I used to think that, and fellas would say, would those three horses not be a stepping stone? But Colm Murphy to me is the most vivid example of how fickle the whole sport can be. Because Colm Murphy is very bright, very intelligent, a likeable fella, wouldn’t offend a mouse, a great worker, terrific success. I don’t think anybody could have done better with Brave Inca, Big Zeb, Voler La Vedette or Fethard Lady. He had all the attributes of a good trainer and still decided it wasn’t for him. David Wachman was the same.

“It was never easy and anyone who thinks it was is only codding themselves. In all walks of life, some people make it. Gordon Elliott is a typical example of a fella not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He didn’t inherit a yard from anybody, or a background in racing from anybody. He’s made it himself, in the toughest of times.

“I know what it’s like to have bad horses. No one knows better. And I know what it’s like to buy a horse and give a few quid for him and he’d be no good, or get killed, or get a leg. It was never easy and I go into it with my eyes wide open.

“The only people I ever feel sorry for is a fella who’s conscripted to the army, that has no choice. Not that he wants to join the army, but that it’s “go into the army or get shot”. Or the only fella that can’t be wrong is the fella to detonate the bomb. He can’t make the mistake because his mistake is death. Other than that, everybody else has a choice. Every fella that wants to be a trainer has a choice. Every fella who is a jockey has a choice.”

HURDLES THAT COULD BE REMOVED

“There should never have been a trainers’ course. That’s a load of poppycock thought up by the Turf Club to educate fellas. And charging fellas €1,200 to have the course so you’re behind the eight ball straight away. The laugh about it is, Joe Crowley stopped training for a while and when he went back training they made him do a course. The same with fellas having to do the course having been understudy to their father for years, like I was when I took over after my Dad died. It was common sense.

“A lot of fellas that go training horses, every one of them mightn’t have a degree in law and be able to read everything. And that’s nearly what you’d want. Or somebody working for you that has a degree now. I’m very fortunate here. Helen is a good woman with the books and Jennifer is a miller. They’re here all the time. They dot all the Is and cross all the Ts. But if I didn’t have a Jennifer and say Helen had another job and wasn’t at home, I’d have to have a full-time secretary. With 20 horses you couldn’t afford a full-time secretary. I see the paperwork that a small outfit like this needs. It’s mind-boggling. You’d think it was NASA I was running out there.

“Another thing that annoys me – and I’m not standing up for Paul Gilligan for one moment – but I think they’re obsessed with horses that run in pony racing or flappers. In my time, it was so bad that if you attended one you could get warned off. What difference does it make what a horse does? If there’s a flapping meeting on a Saturday, or a gymkhana on a Saturday, and I bring my horse there, as long as the right horse comes up on Sunday and he passes the vet on Sunday, what difference does it make what he did on Saturday?

“They have a system and I’m all for it, of checking that the right horse is running, but they’re checking them in the horsebox. That’s like checking you for your boarding pass in the car park before you get on the plane! They should be done as they’re going into the parade ring.

“And there should be no chip scanner. A car can be checked going through the fast line on the motorway for a toll. Why can’t you have a system at the races where you walk through, a nice job that’s horse friendly, and up comes the mark. You’d never have a wrong horse then and you don’t have a horse getting edgy. It’s like Sonia O’Sullivan having to change her togs in the tunnel before the Olympics. They’re coming down, checking his markings, going up and down his mane, it gives me ire. I know they’re only doing their job but it could be done so much better. We’re in 2018. It’s nearly 40 years since we put a man on the moon.

“A great addition to the Turf Club was Adrian McGoldrick as senior medical officer. So friendly, so good for racing, he’s a Christian. And he has a great team around him now, if one of them will take over when he retires. They’re brilliant and have had a hugely positive influence.

“But I would say, as a licensee of the Turf Club since 1966 as a jockey and trainer, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the relationship between those of us that are licensees of the Turf Club and the Turf Club itself, that there’s not a great air between us.

“There were two hard-working trainers, fellas who have given their life to the game, under suspicion for a long time for drug offences until everything was cleared up and it must have been sleepless nights for themselves and their families.

“And I know personally of three or four trainers that have been put out by the Turf Club’s approach to different misdemeanours. Fellas that were totally innocent but there was a suspicion hanging over them for a while. The handling of that was diabolical.

“I have no issue with the testing or inspecting of yards. That’s important to do and very welcome. But I have an issue with their approach to when they are investigating things, how uncomfortable they make people feel, with suspicion hanging over them. They treat them as if they’re guilty straight away.

ANY SECOND NOW

“All being well, he’ll go in the Close Brothers. I think he’ll appreciate two and a half miles. I wouldn’t want the ground to be bottomless but I don’t think it will. He’ll be batting in his own league in this. He was out of his depth behind Monalee, Footpad and Invitation Only. He’ll be competing with horses that he should be able to match. Whether he’s better than them, we’ll see.

“I hope, if he stays, that he’ll make into a good staying chaser. There’s plenty of races to be won with him but of what calibre, I don’t know yet.

“Staying sound, he’s a very good horse, but whether he’s the real Ally Daly, time will tell.”