Ruby Walsh tells Daily Star secret to winning Grand National – plus his tip for winner

The Daily Star has been installed as the nation's favourite for the Grand National - after being given secret tips on how to win by legendary super jockey Ruby Walsh.

Ahead of Saturday's showpiece the double Aintree champ - and fellow veteran winners Mick Fitzgerald, Barry Geraghty and Sir AP McCoy - have been tasked with briefing all 34 jockeys on how best to master riding in the world's most famous steeplechase.

And Ruby, 44, invited your No1 newspaper along to one of his schooling sessions to share his inside knowledge on how to not only finish the gruelling four-and-a-half mile slog - but how to triumph in it. The racing legend, who won the National twice on Papillon in 2000 and Hedgehunter in 2005, uses video evidence and data stretching back to 2010 to produce a winners' guide for riders taking on the challenge this year.

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And if you are leading heading into the most famous of the race's 30 fences - Becher's Brook - on the first of two circuits you may as well ride off into the sunset as you have set off too fast and will never last the pace. The Daily Star put Ruby's advice to the test on a mechanical horse called The Equicizer - a racing simulator jockeys use to build strength and stamina.

One tug on the reins and our intrepid rider's feet flew straight out of the stirrups - suggesting further coaching may be required. Ruby, who rode 2,500 winners in a glittering career, said when he was in the saddle stewards used to lecture jockeys on race safety in a classroom.

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"It was a bit like being at school again,'' he said. "Like all things the race has evolved and the briefing has evolved too. So Aintree approached a few ex-riders a couple of years ago to see if we could do the briefing.

"Rather than tell them what they should do we went for the simple approach of educating people. We gathered as much data from the last 10 Grand Nationals as far as 2012 when the core to the fences were changed - data on position of the finishers, where each winner was during the race, where horses were who ended up not even finishing.

"For example we found only two horses who were the first to jump Becher's Brook on the first circuit ended up in the top three of the finishers. So going fast early does not help you.

"Getting into tight groups lessens your chances to win. We want the horses not to bunch as much. Space is what helps you win a Grand National.

"You ride for a half-moon of room in front of you all the time. We teach the jockeys through stats and videos showing footage from all angles they may never have seen before. The winners over the years may not be in the same places during each race but they tend to be not far from the front and have found pockets of space for themselves away from the other horses.

"Unlike others sports like football and managers like Pep Guardiola jockeys don't have statisticians to give them all this data. So we thought give every jockey as much information and give them an equal chance.''

Ruby said his trainer and ex-jockey dad Ted sat him down and used BBC footage of old Grand Nationals to prepare him for his first ride. He won on Papillon on his debut in the race aged just 20.

Between Thursday (11 April) and Saturday Ruby, McCoy, Geraghty and Fitzgerald will sit down with eight to nine jockeys each one-to-one to give them tips and advice. Ruby told how helicopter footage of last year's race showed how most horses converged to the inside of the track.

They were starved of space and ended up struggling. Asked the biggest obstacle to winning Ruby replied: "The 30 fences." He said the briefings were necessary - even for experienced jockeys - because of the `unique' nature of the National.

"You can get the best horse in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and if you win your reaction is one of achievement,'' he said. "But you watch the expression of jockeys winning the Grand National and their reaction is surprise because it's such difficult race you always think winning it is unobtainable.''

Ruby gave Daily Star readers his own hot tip for Saturday's big race - and perhaps unsurprisingly our jockey will not be riding it. "Capodanno (corr) - I love that horse,'' he said.