Rachael Blackmore’s path to racing glory
Last month’s Cheltenham Festival might have been like no other but it gave us one of the latest horse racing superstars – Rachael Blackmore. The 31-year old picked up no less than six wins which was a commendable achievement in itself, but it was also more than the whole of the British training group.
The sight of Blackmore riding Honeysuckle to win the Champion Hurdle was something that many racing fans won’t forget. It was a fantastic performance that well and truly proved the doubters wrong. Although Minella Indo managed to hold on to win the Gold Cup, Blackmore wasn’t far behind and managed to produce an excellent second place on A Plus Tard. So where did Rachael Blackmore come from and where is she heading next?
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A long road to the top
Rachael Blackmore was born in County Tipperary, Ireland and quickly got involved in the racing world. It’s been over 10 years since the Irish rider marked her first win as an amateur jockey. This came way back in February 2011 when the Irish rider shocked the racing world by coming home first on Stowaway Pearl at Thurles. She turned fully professional in March 2015 and it took Blackmore less than half a year to claim her first professional victory. This came when she won the Clonmel race on Most Honourable.
While these were commendable victories, it took a few more years before Blackmore really made her presence felt among some of the bookmakers featured at betting resources like www.horsebetting.com. Everything changed in 2019 when the Irish rider claimed her first Grade 1 race win in Ireland. This was quickly followed by four more major horse racing triumphs that year and it cemented Blackmore’s status as one of Ireland’s top jockeys.
With nearly 100 winners in the whole of the 2018/19 season, Blackmore managed to bag the runner-up place in the Irish Jockey’s Championship. The fact that it took a legendary jockey like Paul Townend to beat her shows what a phenomenal season she had. This was followed up by a commendable third-placed finish in the 2019/20 racing season that was adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
2021: a year to remember
Obviously, Blackmore’s path to the top was momentarily derailed by the Covid-19 pandemic, but it has been clear that she could pick up where she left off. After all, the 31-year old quickly put in a magnificent performance to win the Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown. This epic victory on Honeysuckle saw the pair winning the race by a good 10 lengths and it marked the fact that Blackmore was back for good.
By the time that the Cheltenham Festival rolled around, the Irish rider was keen to continue her run of impressive form at this race meeting. In the past, Blackmore had managed to put in some phenomenal performances with wins at the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle and the Centenary Novices’ Handicap Chase in 2019, along with an excellent victory at the David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle race last year.
Much of Blackmore’s success has come through her excellent relationship with Henry de Bromhead – the trainer of key racehorses such as Honeysuckle. While the pairing failed to win this year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup, it’s clear that there are plenty more prizes up for grabs in the remainder of 2021.
What’s remarkable is the way in which the racing world has come together to celebrate Blackmore’s achievements. From the racing legend like AP McCoy presenting her with the Ruby Walsh Trophy for being Cheltenham’s leading jockey, to Gold Cup winner Andrew Thornton commending her impressive decision making abilities in big races, it seems that everyone is now a big fan of Blackmore.
The question is whether Blackmore can keep up with the impressive string of achievements that she’s already picked up just three months into the calendar year. She’ll have to come to terms with the new-found fame that comes with being featured on the back pages of all newspapers, and there will be expectation about what she can do to inspire the next generation of jockeys. But one thing’s for sure and that’s that Rachael Blackmore is here to stay.
