Jockey Eoin Walsh might be a name that has escaped a few in recent years, but those familiar with Australian Racing, especially in the Ballarat (Victoria) area, may have noticed his “spur-of-the-moment decision” to return to the plate down under.
Following a number of contributing factors, Walsh, who has ridden over 145 winners in Britain, called time on his career in the saddle back in October 2022 and although keen to remain in the industry, the 29-year-old Galway-born jockey admitted he had no real desire to return to race riding.
Throughout his career, things haven't always been plain sailing for Walsh. A first ride in the all-blue silks of Godolphin back in November 2020 resulted in disaster as the Saeed Bin Suroor-trained Nation's Beauty broke a leg turning for home, leaving Walsh deposited headfirst into Chelmsford's artificial surface. Walsh suffered breaks in his T6, T7 and T8 vertebrae, a potential career-threatening injury, but showed his resilience and somewhat naivety by returning to the saddle just three months later, despite an extremely challenging period both mentally and physically.
"They were challenging months and it's not until I look back now being in the place that I'm in, that I can say I screwed up," said Walsh.
"I should have realised that it takes a bit of time to come back from an injury like that but because I wasn't in the right headspace I just rushed. It knocks your confidence, especially in a race, judging the distance between horses and anticipating what's going to happen. You're always that little bit more cautious and I suppose I never accepted that."
On the back of a short stint riding in Bahrain, Walsh decided to leave former boss Roger Varian and opted to go freelance on his return to the UK, a move he looks back at with aspects of regret.
"I made a big mistake of returning freelance after being with Roger Varian. I should never have done that."
"Roger looked after me during my time off and was good to me. He was bringing me along slowly but in the moment as a jockey you don't look at it like that, you just want to be chucked back into the deep end. But the older you get and the more experienced you become; you soon realise they were only doing what was best for you. In the moment all I thought was why aren't you giving me rides, I should be riding this, I should be riding that but realistically they were just trying to bring me on steadily to get my confidence back."
Another tough period would follow for Walsh and with no winners on the board from 46 rides in 2022, the Irishman would decide to hang up his boots, retiring from race riding in October of that year.
So, what next? With no real interest in continuing riding but a desire to remain in the industry, Walsh set about his search for a new mission. It would be a return to Bahrain as manager of the Bahrain Jockey Academy that was next on the list for Walsh, a time he looks back on fondly at when explaining how the opportunity arose.
Walsh, who was at the time falling out of love with the sport, explained: "A company called RACE in Ireland contacted me completely out of the blue and asked if I would be interested in working alongside Paddy Flood, an ex-jump jockey, in running the academy. Originally, I said I wasn't interested but I had a think about it and decided it would be something quite interesting to get involved with.
"At that stage, I was pretty much fed up with race riding, so I was looking at other options in the industry without committing. I even got rid of all my riding gear by giving it out to the lads I was working with. I'd held onto some of the saddles but that was probably more as memorabilia. Everything else I got rid of. I was in the office most days but able to help riders as a jockey coach as well. I loved it, it helped me get some spark back and I really enjoyed the season I did with them."
Although a return to the saddle was clearly always niggling away at the back of his mind, Walsh paid tribute to the break he took following his stint working in Bahrain, as he returned with a new lease of life following some much-needed respite.
"Race riding was always something I knew I wasn't finished with, but I was also damn glad to have that break. At the time, I didn't know it was going to be a break, but it was nice being able to eat, drink, and almost live a student life for a year. It was great to experience events like the Cheltenham and Galway Festival and just being able to experience life in general, being able to travel and see the world without the worry about doing 9st or 57kg in a few day's time was amazing."
A trip to Hong Kong would follow as he advanced around the globe on something of a working sabbatical, and it would be here where Walsh would truly begin to 'get the bug back' for racing. With a renewed outlook and a desire to get both feet back in the irons, a return to the saddle loomed for Walsh - but where?
Walsh had already enjoyed spells riding out in Bahrain and Dubai and a return to the UK looked unlikely. However, one major racing jurisdiction remained largely untouched, and it would therefore be Ballarat, a provincial city 100km north-west of Melbourne, Australia, that would benefit from the talented Irishman's return to the track.
Just over a month on from his return to action on December 22, it's fair to say Walsh is enjoying his time down under. The 29-year-old already has two victories on the board, including a New Year's Day success on Kathy's Beau at Burrumbeet and was keen to praise Australia's superiority when it comes to being compared with Britain. Walsh pinpointed Victoria Racing's scheme to subsidise jockeys' travel as a major positive for those 'smaller-scaled riders' and was eager to emphasise how he believes training methods in Australia to be ahead of those in the UK.
"For me racing in Australia on the whole is ten times better. The people, the trainers, the methods. Obviously, there are some fantastic trainers in the UK, I'm not knocking anybody and I'm grateful to plenty of them. However, everything here just seems so much better. The way of life for a jockey, a stable lad, a work rider, it's just vastly superior."
"If I have between one and three rides, I will take my riding fees, but I'll also receive an additional $100 to be put towards fuel expenses. In the UK I'm only taking my riding fee and I've got to pay my fuel to go to Wolverhampton, Catterick, and Newcastle so just put me straight away in the struggling jockey category who is going to those places for one ride and coming out with maybe £20-£30 profit at best. Here, I'm coming home with my riding fee no matter if it's one, two, or three rides. There's also prize money down to as far as tenth place in every race. It all adds up."
Things are looking up down under for Walsh and despite nearly finding himself collecting a seven-meeting ban on his first ride, he continues to impress as he learns the ropes around some of Australia's most challenging provincial and country tracks.
"Interference in Australia is a lot stricter; you've got to be two lengths up before you can cross over and I was nearly guilty in my first ride. That manoeuvre in the UK wouldn't have even been acknowledged but I was looking at a possible seven-meeting ban. Thankfully, they were fairly lenient as it was my first time riding here.
"The jockeys you ride against are of a very high standard here. I've learnt a lot from being here with sectional times and the pace races are run at. I've ridden mainly at country tracks here and they're difficult to ride, it's amazing watching lads who have gone around here for the last 20-30 years and how they ride them so well. They're not the easiest of tracks to ride with short run-ins and tactically I think the racing here is ahead of that in the UK. There are obviously some unbelievable jockeys in the UK, the top 50 are phenomenal riders but here the racing is extremely competitive."
"I'm sure they're sick of us international riders coming in but they're good people and competition is good for everybody!"
