Walsh set to miss Chepstow and Wetherby
Speaking yesterday afternoon, Walsh said: “I was due to ride at Chepstow on Tuesday, but have decided not to go.
“I’ve spoken to Paul Nicholls and he is one hundred per cent behind me. I will be in Ireland on Wednesday (Punchestown) and Thursday (Clonmel) and then there was the possibility of Wetherby on Friday.
“But I’m not going to Wetherby either, there is no race big enough to justify me risking the possibility of being suspended again. I am staring at ten days next time.
“Over the last year I have spent a lot of time lying on the flat of my back and cannot take any chances.
“I might be at Wetherby on Saturday to ride Poquelin in the Charlie Hall Chase. But from now on, under the present rules, every race has to be carefully calculated.”
National Hunt jockeys in Britain are only allowed to strike their horse eight times in total and Walsh was adjudged to have hit Edgardo Sol on nine occasions.
One of them, however, was a slap down the shoulder and the fact it was taken into consideration incensed Walsh. He said: “I hit the horse in the backhand position down the shoulder with my hands off the reins.
“It beggars belief I was done for that. It shouldn’t have counted and the rule is wrong.
“What I did was instinctive. Do Messi, Dan Carter, Richie McCaw or Roger Federer plan everything, of course not. They might as well have robots riding horses.”
Continuing Walsh said: “There were 900,000 runners in the UK last year. There were 900 whip offences, which amounts to 1%.
“In total just 20 horses were marked. I’d say the old rules were working bloody well, so what is the BHA at? The answer to all of this is to go back to the old rules. When the ground gets softer, under these rules, the situation will be even worse.”
At Aintree Walsh was completing a double on the day on Elgado Sol. Following his suspension, though, there was a delay to the following race, as the riders refused to enter the paddock.
They were, however, eventually persuaded, with the help of champion jockey Tony McCoy, to come out.
Explaining what happened, Walsh revealed: “We were very close to not riding, we were sat down and not going out.
“But the stipendiary stewards and A P spoke to us and we decided it wasn’t the right thing to do at that stage.”
Walsh will be suspended from November 5-9 inclusive. The most significant fixture he is set to miss is at Down Royal on November 5, a card featuring the JNwine.com Champion Chase.
On Saturday Paul Nicholls twittered: “Nice day with three winners, ruined by Ruby’s five-day ban after awesome ride on Edgardo Sol.”
