Grand National Jockeys By Paul Eddison At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

It needs years of dedication on the part of owners, jockeys, stables and trainers to a get a horse in the condition needed to win the Grand National.

Good, seasoned jockeys are worth their weight in gold and can frequently make the difference between a winner and a loser in the big race. Ruby WalshRuby Walsh is an example of the most renowned and successful jockeys on the planet.

Boy of the previous champ newbie jockey Ted Walsh, Ruby Walsh won his first Irish newbie title in 1996 / seven at just eighteen yers of age and then again in 1997 / eight, before turning professional. At just twenty years of age he rode to victory at Aintree in 2000 at his first attempt, on Papillon, a house trained by his dad.

Dad and boy then went on to win the Irish National with Commanche Court the same year. In the 2004 / five season Walsh won a few of the 4 Nationals : the Irish on the 2006 Grand Countrywide winner, Numbersixvalverde, the Welsh on subsequent 2007 Grand State winner Silver Birch, and the British on Hedgehunter.

So far Walsh has ridden over fourteen hundred winners including seventeen winners at the Cheltenham Holiday including the 2007 Cheltenham Gold Cup on the fave, Kauto Star and a 2nd Queen Ma success in 2008 on the brilliant five-year-old Master Minded. He rode his first winner, "Legal Steps", at Thurles on twenty-six March 1992 and he hasn't ever looked back. He has damaged countless records including a record 74 winners in 2004.

The following season he was champion jockey, an attainment that he has repeated in every one of the 12 following seasons. In that run he in addition has set a new Countrywide Hunt record for winners in a season ( 253 ) and also become the quickest jockey to get to the one thousand winner mark. McCoy beat Sir Gordon's record of 269 winners in a season on Valfonic at Warwick on two Apr 2002, and he went on to finish the campaign on 289 which also meant he had exceeded Richard Dunwoody's record in history jumps winners and was now the premiere jumps rider in history.

Winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Champ Hurdle, Queen Ma Champion Chase and King George VI Chase McCoy has few targets left to chase, to ride three hundred winners in a season and to win the Grand Countrywide.

Timmy Murphy hails from a long line of pony lovers with his grandfather being a blacksmith and his pa a racehorse coach. As a kid in Eire he started racing ponies and went on to become a spotted point-to-point champ earning his first pro win at Kilbeggan, in 1993. During his first year riding for Paul Nicholls, he won both the 1997 Walk through Chase, at Chepstow, and the 1998 Pillar Property Chase, at Cheltenham, on See More Business. One of his career highlights and potentially the best ride he has ever given a pony came in 1999, on Ever Sanctified, when winning the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup, at Newbury.

Naturally this does not exclude another superb race in the 2008 Aintree Grand State when he rode to victory on Comply or Die for his first national win for coach David Pipe. Barry Geraghty27-year old Irish jockey Barry Geraghty rode his first winner at Down Royal back in Jan 1997 and his progress since that time has been little short of outstanding.

He was leading rider at the 2003 Cheltenham Holiday with 5 winners and has recorded twelve wins at the meeting having ridden his first one there in 2002. In 2002 / 03 he led Moscow Flyer in the Queen Ma Champ Chase and simply overcame by 7 lengths. That win was the highlight of a remarkable 2003 Cheltenham Holiday for Geraghty as he won roughly 5 races, simply winning the premiere rider title for the week.

He continued the season in superb form taking the most coveted prize of all of them - the Aintree Grand National on the Jimmy Mangan-trained Monty's Pass. In recognition of his amazing year, Geraghty was voted as 'Sports Personality Of The Year' later that season for his fantastic victories, the 1st time that this prize had been won by any one in the racing industry.

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