Ruby Aut’ to bide time despite riches on offer
RUBY WALSH knows what he wants for his 39th birthday tomorrow week – the all-clear to return to jump racing in time for the lucrative two-day meeting in Auteuil on May 19-20. Unlike kid sister Katie and sister-in-law Nina Carberry, Walsh has no intention of retiring, which is a plus for the sport. But he needs to be wary of rushing back after injury, as some fear he may have done for the Cheltenham Festival where a second day fall opened up a fracture on the leg he broke in November. Walsh admitted this week the recovery ‘is taking time’ and how his surgeon ‘will have to be very happy with my leg before he lets me ride again.’ At this stage of his decorated career, Walsh would lose nothing by taking an extended breather and it would do no harm at all to return for Galway at the end of July. There will be plenty of exceptional horses at the Willie Mullins yard for him to ride when he comes back.