Bashboy will have a superstar of jumps racing in the saddle when he faces nine rivals in his attempt at winning a record third Grand National Steeplechase.

A field of 10 has been declared for Sunday's Grand National (4500m) at Ballarat and champion Irish jumps jockey Ruby Walsh is looking forward to making the trip to Victoria to ride the Ciaron Maher-trained Bashboy in the $250,000 race.

He was contacted about coming to Australia to take the ride after top local jumps jockey Steven Pateman was suspended, and his booking was confirmed on Wednesday after Pateman failed in his appeal against the careless riding ban.

The Ballarat Turf Club has announced free entry to give the public the chance to watch Walsh in action in Australia for the first time.

A 10-time champion jumps jockey in Ireland and winner of 45 races at the Cheltenham Festival during his career, Walsh will be the star attraction at the meeting and said it was a nice surprise to be contacted early this week to see if he would be interested to ride Bashboy if Pateman's appeal failed.

"I didn't have that many commitments (this weekend) so I was glad to take the opportunity," Walsh told Melbourne's RSN radio.

"I was very grateful to the connections for asking me and I'm looking forward to getting down there."

Walsh will ride Arch Fire in the JJ Houlahan Hurdle in the second race on Sunday's card before partnering Bashboy in the Grand National Steeplechase two races later.

Bashboy won the Grand National in 2012 and 2013 and was second last year.

Ballarat was rated in the heavy range on Thursday and Maher can't fault the evergreen 12-year-old.

"He should get his favoured conditions on Sunday, he loves heavy ground and it should be quite a staying test so hopefully he can get the job done," Maher said.

"It would be a great achievement for the horse if he was able to win three Nationals."