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Popular RTE star pays emotional tribute to ‘horse of a lifetime' that was feature of racing coverage following sad death

Popular RTE star pays emotional tribute to ‘horse of a lifetime' that was feature of racing coverage following sad death

The Irish Sun26-06-2025
RTE RACING analyst and former jockey Katie Walsh paid an emotional tribute to her "horse of a lifetime" after his sad death.
Thousand Stars died aged 21 after spending his retirement in the care of Walsh.
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Katie Walsh, left, paid tribute to Thousand Stars following his death
Credit: Barry Cregg / SPORTSFILE
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The horse was a regular on RTE TV after retirement
Credit: Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile
The horse, which was trained by
He was steered to three victories by Katie Walsh, who paid loving tribute to the rival and stablemate of Hurricane Fly.
The daughter of Ted Walsh told
"The County Hurdle was a great day, it was my second winner at
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"The Prix la Barka was brilliant too and I rode him in a lot of Grade 1s, chasing home Hurricane Fly on numerous occasions. He ran in a lot of top-class races.
"It just goes to show how sound he was of wind, legs and wind and everything.
"That's the standout part about it all. He had a lot of runs in
"He definitely stood the test of time and was a very sound horse."
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In a racing career that spanned ten years, Thousand Stars earned well over £1 million in prize
money
before retiring in 2016.
In the subsequent nine years, he became a regular feature on
'Absolutely priceless' video shows Willie Mullins and Nicky Henderson singing 'We Are The Champions' at Cheltenham
It was on board Thousand Stars that Walsh would conduct post-race
And she added: "He was with us a long time, it was lovely to have him.
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"I used to do all the RTE
work
and the jockeys' interviews on him.
"He was a great horse for that and I rode him in a Racehorse to Riding Horse event at the RDS [Dublin Horse Show].
"From the day I went to Willie's, he was there and since he retired, he's been with us.
"He was always around the place and it was great to get the opportunity to look after him and I'm sorry he's gone."
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Hers was one of a number of
At The Races said: "Grade 1 wins in
France
and
"Remembering National Hunt favourite Thousand Stars who has sadly died aged 21."
RacingTV posted: "Sad to hear of the passing of Thousand Stars at the age of 21. Katie Walsh described him as "The horse of a lifetime.""
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Ben said: "Sad to hear Thousand Stars has passed away. Was a class horse on his day and have great memories of him from my time at Cheltenham"
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