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Irish Daily Mirror
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
Katie Walsh pays tribute as 'horse of a lifetime' who won at Cheltenham dies
Katie Walsh has dubbed popular grey Thousand Stars the 'horse of a lifetime' after the 21-year-old passed away on Thursday. The gelding, who arrived in Ireland from France 18 years ago, fell into the hands of Closutton maestro Willie Mullins in 2009 and hit the ground running, winning a handicap at Naas on yard debut under icon Ruby Walsh, brother to Katie. For the next seven years, the son of Grey Risk would become a jumps hero, winning the 2010 County Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival and tasting Grade 1 glory on four occasions, often battling it out with superstar stablemate Hurricane Fly. Upon his retirement in 2016, having earned over €1.4 million in prize money, Thousand Stars was placed in Walsh's care. He often appeared on RTE racing, with Walsh on board to interview winning jockeys. "He was a fantastic horse and I had some great days on him. He was the horse of a lifetime and lovely to be around," admitted Walsh, speaking after the grey's death following a bout of colic. "The County Hurdle was a great day, it was my second winner at Cheltenham. 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 everything. That's the standout part about it all. He had a lot of runs in France before he went to Lar Byrne and then went to Willie's. He definitely stood the test of time and was a very sound horse." During his time with Mullins, Walsh, her brother, and current Closutton No. 1 Paul Townend all got a leg up on Thousand Stars, and the endearing grey won a total of 10 times. Most notable was his Cheltenham Festival success in 2010, when Walsh steered the then-six-year-old home as a 20-1 shot in the County Hurdle. Their partnership resulted in three wins from 17 outings. The gelding had an affinity for Auteuil, and he and Walsh combined to win the Grade 2 Prix la Barka Hurdle there in 2014. Five of Thousand Stars' wins came at the French track, including the Grade 1 Grande Course de Haies D'Auteuil in 2011. His other Grade 1 win was in the Morgiana Hurdle that same year, with Ruby doing the steering. "He was with us a long time, it was lovely to have him," Walsh, who herself retired in 2018, continued. "I used to do all the RTE work and the jockeys' interviews on him. He was a great horse for that. "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." Carlow trainer Mullins was also enamoured with the grey, and said upon the gelding's retirement in 2016: "He was an iron horse. He was tough and sound. He never showed off at home. You would never see him do a flashy piece of work but he saved everything for the track. He was a favourite of everyone in the yard."
The Irish Sun
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Popular RTE star pays emotional tribute to ‘horse of a lifetime' that was feature of racing coverage following sad death
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. Advertisement 2 Katie Walsh, left, paid tribute to Thousand Stars following his death Credit: Barry Cregg / SPORTSFILE 2 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 Advertisement Read More on Horse Racing "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." Advertisement Most read in Horse Racing Exclusive 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. Advertisement "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." Advertisement 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."" Advertisement 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"
Irish Daily Mirror
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
Tributes paid to legendary horse and much loved member of RTE Racing's team
Tributes have been paid to one of the most popular horses of the past two decades — who has sadly passed away at the age of 21. Gorgeous grey Thousand Stars was trained by Willie Mullins and won thirteen of his 80 races, four of them coming in Grade 1 company. He earned over €1.4 million in prize money for his owners, the Hammer & Trowel Syndicate, who also owned legendary mare and record breaking six-time Cheltenham Festival heroine Quevega. Indeed Thousand Stars' most memorable success came at the Cheltenham Festival in 2010 when he captured the County Hurdle under Katie Walsh. It began a long and successful partnership with Walsh, the pair winning three times in total, while he also finished behind the legendary Hurricane Fly in Grade 1s on a number of occasions. Following his retirement from racing Thousand Stars in 2016 became an important member of the raceday team for RTE. He and Katie Walsh teamed up during the post-race interviews of jockeys when Walsh would be on board the grey. Back in January Walsh spoke of their partnership on RTE with him saying: 'He's taken to that like a duck to water. He's like having another professional, he's such an easy horse to do anything with.' He was also used by Horse Racing Ireland to showcase part of their retired racehorse activation programme with Walsh adding: 'He's got such a kind heart to humans and to other people around the yard with kids around. He loves attention and there's no mean to him. He's just a pleasure to have around the place.' 'Horses are like humans - you could have a good athlete who is not a very nice person. He just was a good racehorse and he's just a very nice horse as well. His racing career and television career led to him becoming hugely popular and he was also a regular at the Dublin Horseshow in the RDS each year, where he competed on a number of occasions. A number of people took to X (formally Twitter) to pay their tributes to Thousand Stars with one post saying 'Rest easy & thank you Thousand Stars.' A post from @Racing_KLR read: 'Heartbroken to hear that @katiewalsh9 magnificent grey Thousand Stars has gone to the big track in heaven, he was a fav of my Mum, so she will get to see him again.' Following Thousand Star's retirement in 2016, Walsh herself paid tribute by saying: 'He was just a favourite of everyone. I got to ride him in so many Grade 1s and the day I won the County Hurdle on him at Cheltenham was really special. It was like he had joined in halfway up the home straight and he won really well. "I won a handicap hurdle on him in the fog at Fairyhouse one day and I suppose we thought he would probably be a decent handicapper. We never imagined he would end up being such a star. 'Everybody loves a grey and he seemed to capture the public's imagination. To be honest, he was probably unlucky to be around at the same time as Hurricane Fly and would have won even more races had Hurricane Fly not been around.' He began his career in France and joined the Mullins team in 2009 and the last of his 80 races was at Tipperary in July 2016. The son of Grey Risk was an important horse for Carlow trainer Mullins too in a period when his dominance wasn't as strong as it is today. He said on his retirement: 'He was an iron horse. He was tough and sound. He never showed off at home. You would never see him do a flashy piece of work but he saved everything for the track. He was a favourite of everyone in the yard and had his own style of running.'
Irish Daily Mirror
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
Mullins plots plan for King and Queen's horse after one-year wait pays off
Willie Mullins is set to plot a route back to Royal Ascot for Reaching High, who is owned by King Charles and Queen Camilla, after his luckless run in the Ascot Stakes. The four-year-old, sent off the 11/4 favourite for the 2m4f contest on day one of the meeting, was denied a clear run under Ryan Moore and ended up finishing ninth as the Henry de Bromhead-trained Ascending (20/1) won under Billy Lee. However, Mullins was celebrating in the winners enclosure on Friday as Ethical Diamond won the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes in the hands of Moore. The Closutton trainer and his wife Jackie had taken part in the royal procession before racing and his dual-purpose performer had no trouble in justifying 3-1 favouritism. Fourth last year, he was 2lb higher having also finished fourth in the County Hurdle at Cheltenham – but the result barely looked in doubt and he came home two lengths clear of Mutaawid and Naqeeb, with the trainer admitting the race had been the plan for the past year. Mullins said: 'Last year he just ran too free and things didn't work out for him, but he still ran a cracker to be fourth so I thought if we get things right this year he had a real live chance and it worked out that way. 'We will give him a little break, bring him home; we will look at York next, a race like the Ebor.' He added: 'These are just fantastic days, Jackie was just saying to me coming in here today 'just enjoy it', and then to have a winner on top that is the cherry on the cake." Mullins stated that he is already plotting a route back to Royal Ascot next year for Reaching High, revealing: 'Tuesday was a little disappointing, but we live to fight another day and hopefully Reaching High will be back for the same race next year. Ryan had nowhere to go, he was just locked in on the inside and that was that."
Irish Independent
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Ascot round-up: Ethical Diamond sparkles for Willie Mullins on momentous day at Ascot
Mullins and his wife Jackie had taken part in the royal procession before racing and his dual-purpose performer had no trouble in justifying 3-1 favouritism. Fourth last year, he was 2lb higher having also finished fourth in the County Hurdle at Cheltenham - but the result barely looked in doubt and he came home two lengths clear of Mutaawid and Naqeeb. Mullins said: "Last year he just ran too free and things didn't work out for him, but he still ran a cracker to be fourth so I thought if we get things right this year he had a real live chance and it worked out that way. 'We will give him a little break, bring him home; we will look at York next, a race like the Ebor. We'd love to (go to Australia) if we could get him qualified, that was my first thought coming in. 'I think he would handle a trip to Australia, he wears the hood because he's a bit keen, but that'd be no problem. 'There's a big one over hurdles in him too, but for the moment we'll concentrate on Flat racing.' He added: 'These are just fantastic days, Jackie was just saying to me coming in here today 'just enjoy it', and then to have a winner on top that is the cherry on the cake. 'Tuesday was a little disappointing, but we live to fight another day and hopefully Reaching High (unlucky in the Ascot Stakes for the King and Queen) will be back for the same race next year. Ryan had nowhere to go, he was just locked in on the inside and that was that.' Meanwhile, Harry Eustace's fine Royal Ascot continued when Time For Sandals blazed her way to Commonwealth Cup glory. The Newmarket handler struck for the very first time in Group One company with Docklands in the Queen Anne Stakes and wasted little time doubling that tally with a filly who was registering just her second career victory - and first since her debut last year. Sent off at 25-1 in the hands of Richard Kingscote, she cruised to the front on the far side with a furlong to run and showed great resolve to edge out Arizona Blaze by a neck with the supplemented Rayevka half a length further back in third.
