Rachael Blackmore: The jockey who showed excellence knows no gender

We sometimes don’t appreciate trailblazers when they soar, but this is different.

Rachael Blackmore wasn’t just one of the greatest jockeys we have seen, she was a pioneer, a groundbreaker, a creator of history. I’m slow to add the word female alongside her list of illustrious achievements because throughout her 16-year career as a jockey, being a female was never a qualifier for her success. Of course, it shed an intense spotlight on her movements, but she didn’t ride like a man or like a woman; she simply rode better than most.

From the moment she turned professional in 2015, Blackmore quietly shattered glass ceilings, the remains glittering in her wake. She dismantled every previously held notion of what a female jockey could be and what she could achieve.

Her CV reads like a fantasy wishlist, the kind every jockey, amateur or professional, dreams of but few ever achieve. She became the first woman to win the Grand National. The first to take home the Cheltenham Gold Cup. She was the leading jockey at the Cheltenham Festival, again the first woman to do so. But it wasn’t just the quantity, it was the quality. Once again, she made history by completing a clean sweep of Cheltenham’s four premier races: the Champion Hurdle, the Gold Cup, the Champion Chase, and, most recently, the Stayers’ Hurdle in March of this year.

Beyond the records she broke and the history she wrote, her brilliance was in her attitude. The weight of expectation never seemed to weigh heavily or idly on her shoulders. On the track, whether it be Listowel or Aintree, Blackmore had a job to do. She was there to win. This determination became a symbol of her excellence. Yes, she was a woman of firsts, but she was also an exceptionally talented rider. She rode with grit, grace and an unflinching focus.

She was also humble in both victory and defeat. When praised and applauded, she often deflected the spotlight, instead crediting the trainers, most notably Henry de Bromhead, who gave her the opportunities to ride such extraordinary horses. Horses like Honeysuckle, who became more than just a champion on the track and morphed into something out of a storybook. Together, Blackmore and Honeysuckle weren’t just a jockey and a horse; they became one and the same, a perfect partnership that lit up the track, the screens and the National Hunt scenes.

In the realm of sport, not many get a fairytale ending, but Blackmore and Honeysuckle did in 2023, when the beloved mare claimed victory in the Mares’ Hurdle, her fourth win at the Cheltenham Festival. It was a moment steeped in emotion and meaning, coming in the aftermath of the tragic death of trainer Henry de Bromhead’s son, Jack. On the day, Blackmore credited the boy with guiding them home: “We all wish a very special kid could be here today, but he’s watching down on us,” she said.

When Blackmore won the Grand National aboard Minella Times in 2021, the world was still in the grips of a global pandemic. Aintree – usually thronged with roaring crowds in their finest attire – stood eerily silent but for the thunder of hooves and the breath of history being made in the air. In that moment of quiet, she became the first female jockey to win the race in its 182-year history. She returned to an empty winner’s enclosure, but somehow the hush made the gravity of the moment even more significant. Many pondered how unfortunate it was that Blackmore didn’t get the resplendent hero’s welcome her historic win so richly deserved, but in hindsight, it made it even more poetic.

Blackmore was out on her own, both figuratively and literally. Minella Times stormed home by six and a half lengths, obliterating the field with ease. However, it wasn’t just the gap at the finish line that mattered. Blackmore was out on her own in a different sense, too. Storming up the straight, she was carving her place in history, creating a world where the phrase female jockey no longer even needed an utterance. It was she who was setting the pace, redefining what was possible for generations to come. That Grand National win was a moment in time that transcended sport, cutting through the stillness of lockdown to inspire people far beyond the world of racing.

The greats of sport are often recognisable by their first names alone. Serena, Rory, Tiger, Roy, Roger, Lionel and now, Rachael. One name said, and a highlight reel of her best moments from Cheltenham to Aintree will play on a loop in the mind forevermore.

In Ireland, we often forget to appreciate greatness as it happens within our midst, but with Rachael, we knew from the first instance. We cheered and cried with her. We celebrated wins and accepted defeats. We basked in the glory of legacy-defining memories. We wanted to be beside her every step of the way, to feel just one fraction of the majesty she was experiencing. We did, and it will never be forgotten.

Blackmore never sought to be defined as a female jockey, she wanted to be known simply as a great jockey. However, what she did for women in sport is almost impossible to articulate. She didn’t just break barriers; she erased them, one ride at a time. She showed that excellence knows no gender. She opened doors that we thought were previously closed. She has created a path for women to be brave and to succeed. There are girls riding ponies today, imagining their own Grand National or Cheltenham triumphs, and it’s no longer just a fairytale dream. It’s real because she did it.

After that historic Aintree win, Blackmore remarked: “I can’t believe I am Rachael Blackmore. I still feel like a little kid, and I can’t believe that I am me.”

Well, we could Rachael and we always did.