{"id":887115,"date":"2026-04-11T15:33:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T15:33:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/887115\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T15:33:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T15:33:25","slug":"ruby-walsh-picks-his-grand-national-1-2-3-including-40-1-outsider-racing-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/887115\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruby Walsh picks his Grand National 1-2-3 including 40\/1 outsider | Racing | Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ruby Walsh has picked his 1-2-3 for today&#8217;s Grand National. The iconic former jockey says that triumphing in the Grand National aboard Papillon delivered the &#8220;greatest day I ever had in racing&#8221; and believes the Irish will have further cause for celebration this year.<\/p>\n<p>Having partnered Papillon in 2000 for his father Ted Walsh, Ruby joined forces with Willie Mullins five years later as Hedgehunter claimed victory at the prestigious Aintree spectacular. &#8220;I&#8217;ve great memories, obviously Papillon in 2002 with my dad &#8211; it was the greatest day I ever had in racing,&#8221; said Walsh. &#8220;I was lucky enough to win it again in 2005 on Hedgehunter for Willie Mullins.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I was placed in a couple. I was third on My Will, third on Rathvinden. Second on Hedgehunter, fourth on Papillon as well. I have great memories of the Grand National. It&#8217;s a race that was always a childhood fantasy.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;For me, to think you could ride in the Grand National or be at Aintree and partake in the Grand Nation was something I always dreamed of doing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He continued: &#8220;I love the meeting. I&#8217;m very lucky to work for ITV now and to be able to go and have good access and go wherever I want to go. But I do really enjoy Aintree. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/latest\/liverpool-fc\" data-link-tracking=\"InArticle|AutoLink\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Liverpool<\/a> is a wonderful city and I think it is a really good weekend &#8211; great crowds, great atmosphere.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Regarding this year&#8217;s race, Walsh believes 2024 winner I Am Maximus, ridden by Paul Townend, will prove exceptionally difficult to beat. And he&#8217;s tipped 40\/1 outside Lecky Watson to make the top three too.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I Am Maximus will be in the frame. I think Oscars Brother will also be in the picture. You have to throw in one at a price. You don&#8217;t have to, but I&#8217;m going to&#8230; Lecky Watson.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ruby Walsh has picked his 1-2-3 for today&#8217;s Grand National. The iconic former jockey says that triumphing in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":887116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8815],"tags":[250644,748,393,287,249989,4884,250641,250643,179,14236,26690,16,15,2805],"class_list":["post-887115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-liverpool","tag-1-2-3","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-grand-national","tag-grand-national-tips","tag-great-britain","tag-i-am-maximus","tag-lecky-watson","tag-liverpool","tag-results","tag-ruby-walsh","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-willie-mullins"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116386805392488037","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=887115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/887116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=887115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=887115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=887115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}