RACHAEL BLACKMORE - A JOCKEY LIKE NO OTHER

Jump racing can be proud of being a truly trailblazing sport in terms of male and female participation, with the sexes competing against one another for almost half a century. However, one name towers above all others – Rachael Blackmore. Her career in the saddle was all about creating history and attaining levels of achievement never seen before by a female rider.

Born on July 11th 1989 and hailing from Killenaule in County Tipperary, where her parents have a beef farm, like many jockeys Rachael’s first introduction to competitive riding was on Ireland’s famed pony racing circuit. Her early career took a less conventional path in that she decided to concentrate on her education at University College Dublin and the University of Limerick, studying science and equine science. At the same time, she also rode as an amateur in point-to-points and enjoyed seven successes as an amateur rider under Rules. The first of those was the Shark Hanlon-trained Stowaway Pearl on February 10th, 2011 at Thurles.

In March 2015, at the age of 25, she made the decision to turn professional, becoming only the second ever female professional Jump jockey in Ireland after Maria Cullen in the 1980s, she gained her first success in the paid ranks when Most Honourable, again trained by Shark Hanlon, was a winner at Clonmel on September 3rd, 2015. Further success quickly followed and with 32 winners, she became the first female jockey to win the Irish Conditional Riders' title in the 2016/2017 season.

Teaming up with leading trainer Henry de Bromhead, victories at a higher level quickly started to flow for Rachael. The first of her 18 Cheltenham Festival triumphs came in 2019 on A Plus Tard in the Close Brothers Novices’ Handicap chase with her first Grade One success coming later in the week in the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle aboard Minella Indo.

Rachael’s impressive career was taken to a whole new level at the 2021 Festival, which was held behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She became the first female jockey to win the Champion Hurdle aboard the amazing mare Honeysuckle and won another of the five championship races on Allaho in the Ryanair Chase. She ended the week as leading jockey with five wins although, ever the professional, in the aftermath she concentrated on the one that got away – she chose to partner A Plus Tard in the Cheltenham Gold Cup who finished second to his stablemate, Minella Indo.

If her Cheltenham Festival exploits had not been enough, Aintree the following month saw Rachael hit the headlines across the globe when she became the first female jockey to win the Grand National, partnering the Henry de Bromhead-trained Minella Times to an 11-1 success in the famous silks of owner JP McManus. Her ‘annus mirabilis’ of 2021 ended in the best possible way when she was crowned both the BBC's Sports Personality's World Sport Star of the Year and RTÉ Sports Person of the Year.

The following year at the Cheltenham Festival saw a second Champion Hurdle success with Honeysuckle while Rachael stayed loyal to old friend A Plus Tard in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and was rewarded when he turned the tables on Minella Indo to make Rachael the first successful female rider in chasing’s Blue Riband.

Following Rachael’s retirement in May 2025 with a total of 575 career winners, her final tally of 18 Cheltenham Festival winners places her in the top 10 riders of all-time at Jump racing’s Olympics. Alongside Ruby Walsh and Barry Geraghty, she is also only one of three jockeys to have won all five championship races at The Festival – the Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase, Ryanair Chase, Stayers’ Hurdle and Cheltenham Gold Cup.