Injury to Ruby Walsh, head of the festival family, casts a long, dark shadow

This article was first published on racingpost.com on March 14, 2018

A day that served up a scarce-credible mix of the hideous and the sublime.

Altior's Champion Chase victory when he looked plain stuffed coming to the home turn was a feat of brilliance by horse and rider.

But even the magnificence of that triumph, while not paling into insignificance, had to take its place in a dispiriting scheme of things as the afternoon progressed.

From the moment Al Boum Photo and Ruby Walsh fell two from home in the RSA you sensed that a scenario not even a writer of penny-dreadfuls would dare invent might be taking sorry shape before our eyes.

Al Boum Photo was quickly up and cantering away, but the screens were soon raised round the jockey on the ground.

This place is not all about bets and self. Up in the stands and in the enclosures thousands of eyes were trained anxiously on those ever fear-inducing screens just a couple of hundred yards away. They are always, for horse or rider, the outriders of misery, portents of ill-fortune.

Walsh had been out for more than 100 days since sustaining a bad break of his right leg on November 18 at Punchestown. Any jockey will tell you a lengthy stretch on the sidelines is a cross between prison and purgatory, frustration as an instrument of torture.

With the dedication of a hermit Walsh drove himself like a Spartan through the process of recovery. He has a determination that borders on the fanatical – a bit like AP, on steroids.

The Cheltenham crowd – every bit as much about heart as pocket – looked on anxiouslyCredit: Alan Crowhurst

The fact it was only late last week that he returned for a handful of rides always suggested his return to Cheltenham was a race against time and cutting it fine.

But it was surely beyond credence that, having taken Prestbury Park by storm on Tuesday, he could be seriously injured again.

After a few minutes a shot flashed up on the big screens of Walsh, supported by his dad Ted and another, inching his way towards the ambulance.

That false dawn of reassurance produced the biggest cheer of the afternoon – further proof that the faithful here are every bit as much about heart as pocket.

To this crowd Walsh is benefactor, folk-hero and part of the festival family – head of that family when it comes to delivering the goods.

Most people would have allowed themselves to be carried on a stretcher. But he is hewn from some from unfathomable substance and couldn't spell stretcher. He was swiftly taken to hospital in Bristol for x-rays and assessment.

Amid a morass of rumours as to the severity of the injury an official statement issued three and a half hours after the fall announced that Walsh "had aggravated a previous leg injury". This left room for interpretation and was far from confirmation that the leg was broken.

But it is the "previous" that is worrying. It suggests he may have a major problem around the site of his recent fracture and Willie Mullins, while stressing the x-ray results were not through, seemed of the opinion the break was in the same place as the November crunch.

Top rider Ruby Walsh: 'The man with the highest pain threshold any of us has ever seen'Credit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Most speculation about the plight of others is unattractive and intrusive. But if he has – as seems likely – suffered a second break of whatever magnitude in the same place as last time that could be an endlessly tricky job to heal.

But don't underestimate Ruby's fighting qualities. He does stubborn like nobody else.

Allow an illustration. Back in November 2008 here at Cheltenham he took a fall from Pride Of Dulcote that literally made me wince and turn away.

It was one of those falls that made you think, 'God almighty he could have done anything to himself there.'

That crash led to Ruby's admission to Cheltenham General, where his spleen was removed.

Ruby Walsh: 'Annie Power hurt – that could have been my Frankie Dettori day' (Members' Club)

A couple of days later I went in to see him carrying some fine food from the best restaurant within 20 miles and, having arrived on the top floor, approached the nurse behind the desk.

"Excuse me," I inquired, "do you have a very spindly, grey haired bloke with a girl's name here?"

She smiled and replied: "If he's the man with the highest pain threshold any of us has ever seen you'll find him in the second room on the right."

He was indeed there with mother Helen in tow and smiling away.

"Everyone can live without a spleen," he said. "You just have to take a pill every day for the rest of your life to compensate. Now what have you got there to eat?"

It was AP who changed the weighing room's perception of how much pain can be tolerated – conquered even – and Ruby, being a competitor, wasn't going to be beaten by his old friend on that front.

On Tuesday I wrote that the festival without Ruby would be like The Rolling Stones minus Jagger.

Well the meeting's lead singer is undoubtedly in trouble. A vestige of hope remains that the fresh injury – starkly random and almost cruel – may not be as savage as some have surmised.

But if it is bad then it could be several months before he is back. We have seen worse tragedies here and a sense of perspective is required ahead of further news.

But if human spirit can overcome physical hardship, Ruby is your man. A mental and physical battle lies ahead.

Every soul on course and across the islands will want him to return victorious once more. The best of Irish and British luck.

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