By way of testament to the perils of National Hunt racing, at the time of writing, pioneering jockey Rachael Blackmore is sidelined as she undergoes rehabilitation for a neck injury sustained at Downpatrick on September 20, 2024. She will, of course, be forever immortalised in Grand National history after becoming the first female jockey to win the iconic steeplechase on Minella Times in 2021, but she is anything but a one-trick pony. Indeed, at the time of her injury she jointly led the Irish jump jockeys’ championship, with 23 winners from 131 rides at a strike rate of 18%.
Blackmore, 35, did not ride her first Cheltenham Festival winners – A Plus Tard in the Close Brothers Novices’ Handicap Chase and Minella Indo in the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle – until 2019, but Prestbury Park has since proved a happy hunting ground. In 2020, she won the David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle on Honeysuckle and a year later had the distinction of becoming the first woman to win the Ruby Walsh Trophy, awarded to the leading rider at the Festival, courtesy of six winners, including Honeysuckle, again, in the Champion Hurdle.
Lo and behold, in 2022, Blackmore completed the Champion Hurdle – Cheltenham Gold Cup double, on Honeysuckle and A Plus Tard, and in so doing became the first female jockey to win the ‘Blue Riband’ of steeplechasing. She has since added four more winners to her Cheltenham Festival tally, including Envoi Allen in the Ryanair Chase in 2023 and Captain Guinness in the Queen Mother Champion Chase in 2024, for a total of 16 altogether.
