'He'd have eaten Arkle' - Ted Walsh reveals the greatest horse he ever saw

Arkle is almost universally recognised as the greatest chaser of all time, but Ted Walsh does not agree – and he doesn't even think Arkle was the best horse in his yard at the time.

The legendary Irish pundit was speaking to the Racing Post as part of a big interview in Sunday's newspaper, expressing typically forthright views on a vast range of subjects as well as revealing his softer side as he movingly discussed his fears that son Ruby Walsh might have ended up dead if he carried on riding for much longer.

And Walsh didn't hold back as he discussed the horse he views as the greatest he ever saw – Arkle's stablemate Flyingbolt.

"He never took on Arkle because they were in the same yard, but I have no doubt he would have eaten Arkle," said Walsh. "I've never seen a horse since or before who would have beaten him."

Ted Walsh: 'I'm as happy with Any Second Now as I was going into the race last year'Credit: Edward Whitaker

Arkle famously won three successive runnings of the Cheltenham Gold Cup from 1964 to 1966, but Walsh recalled Flyingbolt's stunning 1966 campaign in which he showed remarkable versatility.

"He won the Thyestes Chase at Gowran Park in January with 12st 7lb as a prep for the Champion Chase," he said. "He won the Champion Chase by a distance. The Champion Hurdle was the next day on the Wednesday and he was third. He should have won, he just jumped a bit big. If the Champion Hurdle was on the Tuesday and the Champion Chase on the Wednesday he would have bolted up in both of them. He came back after running in the Champion Hurdle and won the Irish Grand National with 12st 7lb.

"Flyingbolt was a massive horse, an aeroplane. The best horse I ever saw, no doubt."

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Read more from Ted Walsh in the Big Read, available to members from 6pm on Saturday or in Sunday's Racing Post newspaper. Join Members' Club here