Racing pays tribute to Rachael Blackmore

The racing world has paid tribute to Rachael Blackmore following her retirement.

Shark Hanlon provided Rachael Blackmore with her very first winner back in 2011 and paid tribute to the ground-breaking jockey who announced her immediate retirement on Monday.

When Stowaway Peal won at Thurles in February that year, few could have predicted Blackmore would go on to count the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle and Grand National among her big-race wins, although Hanlon never doubted her courage in the saddle.

“The big thing she wanted to win was the point-to-point ladies’ championship and I annoyed her because I took her out of that! That was her big aim though, no such thing as the Gold Cup or Grand National, just that title.

“I’m delighted she went out on her own terms, she rang me just before she released it and it brought tears to my eyes, she has been so much part of our family over the years, my mother and father adored her.

“She’s an amazing woman. I was so lucky she came to me and I was able to provide her with her first winner.

“She was so brave when she first started, she was like a spring when she fell, she used to bounce back up. I remember I got phone calls from people asking what I was thinking in asking her to turn pro but it’s some story.

“She won’t leave racing because she loves horses, like us all.

“The last big winner she had for me was Hewick in the Bet365 Gold Cup (2023) which was nice.

“I’ll never forget when my lad Paddy had first started here and he was on the gallop on a white pony and Rachael was leading. We have a nice picture of it, it’s days like that you’ll never forget.”

Patrick Mullins lived with Blackmore and her partner Brian Hayes for 10 years and said it was a “privilege” to see her career develop as it did.

“I had a front row seat for the whole journey and it’s been extraordinary and a privilege to watch,” he said.

“She did it all, I don’t think anyone has done it better. Her race record stands up with any of the best jockeys. She rode as many Cheltenham Festival winners as Richard Dunwoody, which is incredible.

“If you look back at the 2021 Cheltenham Festival when she had the six winners and was leading rider, I think she won a bumper, a hurdle, a chase from two miles to three miles. I think that week she showed she had the full array of talent and those four days were extraordinary – I don’t think anyone has ridden Cheltenham better than she did that week.

“Even this year, to come back from the injury and Henry’s horses were running poorly when she came back, but she got to Cheltenham and put in two peaches of a ride aboard Bob Olinger and Air Of Entitlement.

“She was a woman for the big stage, but made her name on the small stage. To get to where she was from where she came from was extraordinary and it won’t be the same without her.”

One of Blackmore’s biggest victories came aboard A Plus Tard in the 2022 Cheltenham Gold Cup, one of six Festival winners for the rider in the colours of Cheveley Park Stud.

Cheveley Park director Richard Thompson said: “You can’t really put into words what Rachael achieved.

“The Gold Cup win, what a day. She obviously rode A Plus Tard the year before when he was second to Minella Indo in the Covid year and 12 months later they gave me and the family and Cheveley Park one of the best days we’ve ever had on a racecourse without question.

“Rachael was obviously the first female jockey to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup, it was a year after Covid and the crowds were back. Rachael winning the Gold Cup was the story and seeing her in the red, white and blue made it a day we’ll never forget.

“It’s an astonishing CV she built up, winning 18 Cheltenham Festival races, six for us including a Gold Cup, so we had some great days with her.

“Cheveley Park’s bond with Rachael will be there forever because of what she did for us at Cheltenham and in a number of Grade Ones generally, with A Plus Tard’s Gold Cup win being the icing on the cake.”

Blackmore’s famous Grand National success came aboard the JP McManus-owned Minella Times in 2021 and the owner’s racing manager Frank Berry praised her achievements in the saddle.

He said: “What can you say about her career? She’s had an unbelievable career, she’s done all things that everyone wants to do and she’s a lovely person.

“Winning the Grand National on Minella Times was an incredible day, she’s won all the big races and she’s retiring in one piece. I’m delighted for her.”

Blackmore twice finished second in the Irish jockeys’ championship, finishing just eight winners behind Paul Townend in the 2020-21 season.

He said: “I know Rachael as much as anyone with Jody (Townend, jockey sister) coming through in the sport and she smashed the barriers.

“She won everything and gave me a big fright in a championship one season as well. She burst on the scene and had a relatively short career but then rode right at the top level.

“She was amazing and I wish her all the best for the future.”