Ruby Walsh: Grand day when minnow can be a National hero

Undoubtedly, a big gun could take the main prize, but there is also a chance that what some will call a minnow can be a national hero.

Any Second Now gave Ted Walsh and his connections a good day out at Cheltenham a few years back, and now the 13-year-old bids for Irish Grand National glory. Pic: Dan Sheridan/Inpho

SOME things change, like the date of Easter and the fact that Good Friday is no longer a blank day for racing in the UK, but other things don’t so that Easter Monday will mean only one thing to some people, and that’s Irish Grand National Day.

Perris Valley is the first I remember, but he won on Easter Saturday for a reason I don’t know. But he was lucky that it wasn’t this year, or he would have had to wait for today after Saturday was washed out, but thankfully, the water flowed away, and Fairyhouse’s Easter festival kicked off.