It was important to walk away with big win on big stage, says Ruby Walsh

The 12-time champion Irish jockey steered Kemboy to victory in the prestigious Punchestown Gold Cup on Wednesday before announching his retirment.

He hopes to continue to play a part at the all-conquering stables of Willie Mullins, Ireland’s pre-eminent trainer, as he adjusts to life out of the saddle.

Walsh, who burst on the scene when winning the 2000 Grand National on Papillon for his father Ted, who trained the horse, won virtually every big race in the calendar at least once.

In Yorkshire, he won Wetherby’s Charlie Hall Chase on Silviniaco Conti in 2012 as well as a Mares’ Hurdle at Doncaster in 2014 on future Champion Hurdle winner Annie Power.

While Walsh’s 2,700 career wins may be some way behind his great friend and rival Sir Anthony McCoy’s tally of 4,358 successes, he is still the third most successful National Hunt jockey in history and spent his latter years concentrating on quality rather than quantity.

Now 39, Walsh was relieved to quit the sport on his terms as he spoke about his desire to continue working for the legendary Mullins – the pair teamed up to win the Irish Grand National last month on Burrows Saint, whose breeders Julie and Neil Morgan are longstanding supporters of Yorkshire jump racing.

“I hope to have a role there,” said Walsh who rode a record 59 Cheltenham Festival winners.

“It’s been part of my life since I left school. I’d like to stay fit – I don’t plan on getting too heavy – so yes, of course, I’d like to have a role there.”

Walsh explained why he believes he and Mullins had such a successful relationship.

“I’d say trust made it work,” he said. “You’re always involved, and Willie likes input. You can see that with staff and the way the yard is set up and the system it works on. He’s ultimately in charge, but he does expect you to be thinking outside the box.”

The way Walsh’s last day in the saddle worked out provided him with the perfect finale.

“You’re hoping to find a fairytale way of getting out, and it was a great way to to do it,” he said. “It was a great day, great that (wife) Gillian and the girls (daughters) were here. It’s a bit of a blur, but it was lovely to get such a warm send-off. But to me, it was more important to walk away on the big stage with a big winner – and I was lucky enough to be able to do that.

“I’ve been so lucky from day one to ride so many incredible horses. No jockey is any good without the horses, the horses are such a huge part of it. From the very beginning – Imperial Call here 20 years ago to Alexander Banquet, Kauto Star, Big Buck’s, Master Minded, Denman, Hurricane Fly, Quevega, Annie Power, Kemboy, Un De Sceaux – you name them. In anyone’s lifetime, I rode all the best ones.”

Walsh also conceded that he was on borrowed times in terms of injuries. “Everyone gets their fair share of injuries and I probably got a fraction more than my fair share.

“Someone has to have a high average for the lads at the low end and I was probably at the higher end of that. That’s racing,” he reflected. “To me, as I was always taught as a kid it was all about the big day – my father taught that to me. I don’t think I’m going to miss the riding. When I broke my leg off Al Boum Photo in Cheltenham last year the thoughts of another four months of rehab did not appeal.

“I’ll be honest, without (physiotherapist) Enda King’s help in Santry I wouldn’t have even got the last three years out of my career. Physically what I’ve put my body through. (Dr) Brendan Doyle for 20 odd years, lord have mercy on him. It was those guys that got an extra three or four years out of me that physically were amazing.

“You can’t get inside a horse’s mind and to think that you can master or control the horse – you can’t. You’re 10st and you’re trying to control half a tonne. You can only try to get it to cooperate slightly in the way you want it. You can’t get inside its mind or master it. You have to try and guide it and hope you get it right.”