[2] Widely regarded as one of the greatest National Hunt jockeys of all time,[3][4][5] Walsh is the third most prolific winner in British and Irish jump racing history behind only Sir Anthony McCoy and Richard Johnson.

[2] He won the English Grand National in 2000 at his first attempt, aged 20, on Papillon,[6] a horse trained by his father and owned by Mrs J Maxwell Moran.

However, he had earlier success in that race on Take Control in 2002 and following the retirement in 2015 of Tony McCoy, became the only jockey then riding to have won all four Nationals.

He reclaimed the King George VI Chase in 2011 on board Kauto Star after Long Run won the race in 2010.

His dominance of the jockeys' championship in Ireland was all the more remarkable inasmuch as for a period of more than ten years he had a unique riding arrangement with two powerful stables, one on either side of the Irish Sea.

Based in Calverstown, County Kildare, where he lives with his wife Gillian, he rode predominantly for Willie Mullins in Ireland.

In January 2007, Walsh achieved the fastest-ever century of winners in Irish jumps racing history aboard Bluestone Lad at Gowran Park.

In March 2011, Walsh rode Hurricane Fly to victory in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, finishing ahead of Peddlers Cross and Oscar Whisky.

He later broke the same leg while schooling a horse and was out of action for a total of five months that season, but recovered in time to partner Papillon to win his first Grand National.

A fall at the Paddy Power meeting at Cheltenham in November 2008 resulted in Walsh having his spleen removed in an emergency operation.

Walsh fractured his left ankle during a fall from the ill-fated Imperial Hills, trained by Willie Mullins at Killarney in May 2009.

On the last day of the 2014 Cheltenham Festival Walsh sustained a compound fracture of the humerus in a fall in the Triumph Hurdle.

However they parted on good terms and Walsh has continued to ride the occasional Nicholls horse, including winning on Al Ferof in the Grade 2 Amlin Chase at Ascot in November 2014.