Rachael Blackmore | Horse Racing Free Tips

Rachael Blackmore Wins 2021 Irish Racing Hero Award

Jockey Rachael Blackmore will be awarded the 2021 Irish Racing Hero Award at the annual Horse Racing Ireland Awards in December.

Blackmore became the first woman to claim the Cheltenham Festival Leading Jockey title with six winners. She found Champion Hurdle success with Honeysuckle (GB) (Sulamani {Ire}) on Tuesday, a Triumph Hurdle score with Quilixios (GB) (Maxios {GB}) on Friday and also won races in the middle of the meeting with Bob Olinger (Ire) (Sholokhov {Ire}) and Sir Gerhard (Ire) (Jeremy) on Wednesday and Allaho (Fr) (No Risk At All {Fr}) and Telmesomethinggirl (Ire) (Stowaway {GB}) on Thursday.

She became the first woman to ride the winner of the iconic G3 Grand National with her success on Minella Times (Ire) (Oscar {Ire}) described as “historic” by President Michael D Higgins, “a truly amazing achievement” by An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, with Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue T.D, saying, “You are once again a history maker and have done Ireland proud.”

Suzanne Eade, interim CEO of Horse Racing Ireland, said, “Rachael's achievements on two of jump racing's biggest stages are truly historic. Not only was she the first woman to ride the winner of a championship race at Cheltenham, but Rachael also became the first woman to win the Leading Jockey Award at the festival. It is remarkable that her six winners included five at Grade 1 level.

“Her Aintree Grand National victory made headlines all over the world and that accomplishment alone will resonate with so many within the racing industry and beyond.

“Rachael has become more than a role model; she is a true icon of our wonderful sport and a most fitting winner of the 2021 Irish Racing Hero Award.”

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Letter to the Editor: Andrea Branchini

My fellow Americans, I put it to you that the 2021 Liverpool Grand National was an epoch-making sporting event –like the sub-4-minute mile of Roger Bannister in 1954 or the first MLB game of Jackie Robinson in 1947.

In the 1944 movie “National Velvet” a very young Elizabeth Taylor faints and slides off her beloved horse Pie after having crossed the finish line first in the Grand National–that mad race where 40 horses and riders are to jump 30 high fences over 4 1/2 miles.

The after-the-finish fall is what screenwriters call a “plot device,” so that Velvet (Taylor) and Pie can be disqualified without an unpractical and probably unfilmable reveal in the winner's enclosure. It is actually an ingenious little stratagem, because it stands to reason and is very credible that a 12-year-old girl could be totally exhausted at the end of a marathon ride that even professional jockeys find challenging.

The actual race lasts close to 10 minutes–an eternity in horseracing. Usually, the public commentary is in fact a relay of different commentators, as it is too big a job for just one voice and one single pair of eyes.

The Grand National has always been a unique legend-making legend. This is no exaggeration. The reasons why are many and would call for a long Power Point in a lecture.

Here is a short sample: the 40 horses' start seems a cavalry charge in Napoleonic times; the betting is hysterical, with the favorite usually at 8-1 or thereabouts; the race begins and ends in a racetrack proper, but most of the action takes place on two circuits over country fields perimetered by single lines of spectators (a bit like an Olympic marathon).

Special characters, portentous stories, incredible anecdotes pour from the history of the race like fresh water from a spring: the amateur of amateurs Duke of Albuquerque (find a better name!), who should have paid regular rent at the nearby hospital; cancer-recovered Bob Champion winning in 1981 and immortalized in another major motion picture; Devon Loch, the mount of Dick Francis (yes, that Dick Francis), that spread her four legs to the ground in a belly-flop when in view of the finish line; riders Marcus Armytage and Hywel Davies leading the race in 1990 and discussing the pace {“Are we going too fast?”); the supposed shiver of unhappiness that horses emit when they understand they have to go for a second lap–and so on, the material is endless.

This is definitely a race for dreamers of all types, an event that is notoriously most loved by individuals who first watched it on TV as little children (this writer included).

Then, on top of all of the above, as if it was not enough, came perfectly-cast Rachael Blackmore from County Tipperary, Ireland, to win a race in which women could not legally ride until the mid-1970s. That is why, in the Hollywood fiction of “National Velvet,” Liz Taylor had to impersonate a male jockey to ride her horse Pie in the race.

Rachael Blackmore is simply so great a jockey that her victories in the field shut everybody up–just like Joan of Arc. “I do not feel male, I do not feel female, I do not even feel human,” Rachael Blackmore said to a journalist while walking her horse to the National winner's enclosure. Those words may read otherwise on the written page, but resounded with the great humility of truth when they were spoken. A racing journalist lived dangerously (“I can feel male jockeys will not want to talk to me anymore”) when he said on TV that Rachael Blackmore's greatest asset is her intelligence. “You cannot pick her out in a race, she is just a great jockey,” said retired professional rider Chris Grant, who was second three times in the Grand National, once agonizingly close.

My fellow Americans, I put it to you that the 2021 Liverpool Grand National was an epoch-making sporting event. And I leave it to you.

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The Weekly Wrap: Times Are A-Changin’

It's Craven week, followed by Greenham weekend, both coming on the back of some interesting Classic trials in Ireland and France. It is, as some people prefer to say in midwinter, the most wonderful time of the year.

There's no doubt, however, that the biggest racing story of the year has already happened. However much she wants to play down the gender card, Rachael Blackmore winning the Grand National aboard Minella Times (Ire) (Oscar {Ire}) was huge. In fact, Saturday was a big day on both sides for the world for women recording notable firsts.

Around 12 hours before Blackmore's historic victory at Aintree, Jamie Lee Kah posted her first Sydney Group 1 win on the former French-trained Cascadian (GB) (New Approach {Ire}), in turn becoming the first woman to ride a winner at the top level for Godolphin.

Kah is not new to success: she followed fellow Group 1-winning jockey Clare Lindop in landing the Adelaide jockeys' championship in her native South Australia. In fact, she won it three times, the first when she was still an apprentice. Between winning her first and third championship, Kah took a short time out of racing , prompted in part by the fatal fall of her friend Caitlin Forrest at Murray Bridge in a race in which Kah was also riding.

On a busman's holiday she stayed with her compatriot Jeremy Gask in the UK and spent some time riding out there and in Newmarket.

Thankfully for the sport, she decided to press on with her riding career. Since early 2019 Kah has based herself in Melbourne, where she landed the first of her five Group 1 wins to date on another import, Harlem (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}), in the Australian Cup only weeks after her arrival there. She currently leads the Melbourne jockeys' premiership by a wide margin, her 80 wins putting her 26 clear of second-placed Damian Lane, who in turn is 10 clear of Damien Oliver.

There's no doubt that there is still a dearth of female jockeys but, just as attitudes towards them from trainers and owners are changing, that situation will surely change too. Having come into racing from more of a sport horse background, where from my youth the role models Lucinda Green, Ginny Elliott and Liz Edgar loomed large, I've never quite understood the bias against females jockeys in racing. It always seemed ridiculous and now it is clear to see that it was.

In the last decade we've seen Hayley Turner become the first woman to win a Group 1 outright in Britain (not forgetting Alex Greaves's dead-heat on Ya Malak (GB) in the 1997 Nunthorpe). The recently retired Lizzie Kelly became the first woman to ride a Grade 1 winner over fences in 2015, two months after Michelle Payne became the first to win the Melbourne Cup. In the last year alone, Bryony Frost was the first woman to win the prestigious GI King George VI Chase, Jessica Marcialis was the first to win a Group 1 in France, Hollie Doyle was given a retainership by Arab owner Imad Al Sagar, rode a five-timer at Windsor and was named Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year. Then there's Rachael, who is now so famous she only needs a first name. Six victories at the Cheltenham Festival saw her become the leading jockey there three weeks ago before her arguably even more important success on Saturday.

Plenty of people have pointed to the fact that she will now have other women and young girls believing they too can be a jockey. That, however, is not the problem. The women have always believed, but not enough men in key positions felt the same. Times are changing, along with attitudes. It can't come soon enough.

Frankel's French Romp

On Friday, it will be ten years since Frankel (GB) stepped out for his first 3-year-old triumph in the Greenham S. ahead of that breathtaking win in the 2000 Guineas. In the intervening decade, his name has rarely been out of the racing news, and that has been particularly true in the past week, notably in France.

Last Monday Big Five (GB) had become Frankel's 100th black-type performer in the northern hemisphere with his easy victory in the listed Prix Right Royal at Chantilly. Then Juddmonte's Wensleydale (GB) dazzled brightly enough in her Saint-Cloud debut for Henri Devin that she became the latest TDN Rising Star.

Another Juddmonte filly, Petricor (GB), was just outdone in the G3 Prix Vanteaux on Sunday but even then it was by another daughter of Frankel, Rumi (Fr), who stepped up notably from her seasonal debut when fourth in the Prix Durban only a week earlier. Hurricane Cloud (Fr), the half-brother to promising young French sire Goken (Fr), provided another winner for Frankel on Sunday's Longchamp card, while O'Reilly (Fr) won on his 3-year-old debut for Jessica Harrington at Leopardstown, where Mehnah (GB), a half-sister to Irish 2000 Guineas winner Awtaad (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}), was beaten a head by Keeper Of Time (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) on just her second start in the G3 Ballylinch Stud 'Priory Belle' 1000 Guineas Trial.

Among Frankel's spate of other winners worldwide, Delaware (GB), who was previously a Group 3 winner for Andre Fabre, notched his first win since joining Chad Brown's stable and he did so in some style, setting a new Aqueduct track record in the listed Danger's Hour S.

Blue Collar Heroes

In the very early skirmishes in the first-season sire championships, Overbury Stud's Ardad (GB) is leading the way as the only stallion with two winners to date. His first came last Tuesday at Bath with Blue Collar Lad (GB), who was bought for just 1,000gns by his trainer Robyn Brisland.

Then on Monday at Windsor, the track where you often find a Richard Hannon hotpot in the early juvenile races, the 150/1 shot Arboy Will (GB) made all the running to outdo that hotpot, Zoltan Star (GB), who incidentally was co-bred by Overbury Stallions with Dukes Stud and is by Ardad's sire Kodiac (GB).

Bred by Anthony Byrne, Arboy Will was unsold at 1,500gns as a foal when offered at Tattersalls, and is out of a dual-winning half-sister to the GII Santa Ana S. winner Madam Dancealot (Ire) (Sir Prancealot {Ire}). He became the first debutant 2-year-old winner for his veteran trainer John Bridger who admitted he is “getting near 80”.

Ardad could be in for a big week as among his six entries this week he has two horses set to make their debut at Newmarket's Craven meeting. One of those, Beautiful Sunshine (GB), was withdrawn from the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-up Sale by consignor Robson Aguiar and has instead been sent into training with George Boughey for Amo Racing. Aguiar notably enjoyed success last year with another breeze-up withdrawal, The Lir Jet (Ire) (Prince Of Lir {Ire}), who was trained by Michael Bell to win convincingly on debut at Yarmouth before being sold to Qatar Bloodstock and landing the G2 Norfolk S. at Royal Ascot.

Blue Collar Lad and Arboy Will were not the only inexpensive winners over the last week. The Marco Botti-trained Atalis Bay (GB) (Cable Bay {GB}) was bought by his Italian owners Scuderia Blueberry for just 800gns as a yearling at the Tattersalls February Sale. The colt has now won four of his seven starts and landed the conditions race at Nottingham off a mark of 97.

However, there's no doubt that the bargain buy of the week was G3 Ballylinch Stud 'Priory Belle' 1000 Guineas Trial winner Keeper Of Time (Ire), who gave Mehmas an important boost as he bids to build on his exciting start to his stud career last year. John Nolan bought the filly for just €3,000 at the Goffs February Sale from the Phelan family's Tullogher House Stud and she became the first group winner for Johnny Feane. The trainer indicated after the race that Nolan has already had offers for Keeper Of Time, who is not entered in the Irish Classic and could be sold to race on in America.

Eagle To Swoop Again?

Gestüt Schlenderhan and partners suffered a cruel blow last week with the death of German champion sire Adlerflug (Ger) at the age of 17 .

A day later his son Martial Eagle (Ger) carried the Ullmann family colours to a stylish victory at Saint-Cloud for trainer Francis Graffard in the Prix Amour Drake. The colt holds entries for the Prix du Jockey Club and Grand Prix de Paris but he may well be aimed to follow the example of another Graffard-trained and Schlenderhan-bred son of Adlerflug, In Swoop (Ire), in the G1 Deutsches Derby, for which Martial Eagle is currently favourite.

In Swoop, who subsequently finished runner-up to Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) in the Arc, has remained in training and is entered to return to Longchamp on Sunday in the listed Prix Lord Seymour.

Lord Grimthorpe

Another regrettable piece of news in the last week was the announcement that Lord Teddy Grimthorpe will step down from his position as Juddmonte's racing manager in June.

In a tenure of more than two decades, he has overseen the careers of some of the greatest names of the turf in a pivotal liaison role between stud managers and trainers within the sizeable Juddmonte empire.

Moreover, Grimthorpe has been the operation's faultless spokesman throughout the heady years of Frankel (GB) and Enable (GB) in particular, when press and public interest was at its peak. From a journalist's perspective, and doubtless from many others, he will be much missed.

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Rachael Reigns Over Cheltenham

“Out of this world,” was how Rachael Blackmore described her week at Cheltenham so far, but it is becoming increasingly clear that the top echelon of National Hunt racing is very much her world.

The 31-year-old now leads the jockeys' table with five Festival winners in the last three days, with Jack Kennedy her closest pursuer on three. Two of her triumphs have come on horses owned by Cheveley Park Stud, which has now celebrated two winners at each of the last three Cheltenham Festivals. Wednesday's victory of Sir Gerhard (Ire) (Jeremy) in the G1 Weatherbys Champion Bumper was followed 24 hours later by the emphatic G1 Ryanair Chase triumph of Allaho (Fr) (No Risk At All {Fr}). The link between the two, apart from the owner and trainer Willie Mullins, was the brilliant, dominant riding of Blackmore, who on each horse dictated the race from the front, running her rivals ragged.

In the case of Allaho, his relentless pace started to force errors from those in pursuit of the 7-year-old, whose near-flawless jumping bought him lengths at each fence. Having dispatched his stable-mate and last year's Ryanair winner Min (Fr) (Walk In The Park {Ire}), who was eventually pulled up, he kicked into another gear for his final thrust up the hill, leaving the Joseph O'Brien-trained runner-up Fakir d'Oudairies (Fr) (Kapgarde {Fr}) 12 lengths adrift as he sailed across the line.

Add the Cheveley Park Stud brace to Blackmore's historic Champion Hurdle success aboard Kenny Alexander's Honeysuckle (GB) (Sulamani {Ire}) on the opening day, the victory of Bob Olinger (Ire) (Sholokhov {Ire}) in the G1 Ballymore Novices' Hurdle on Wednesday and, later on Thursday the daring late run on Telmesomethinggirl (Ire) (Stowaway {Ire}) to clinch another victory for owner Alexander and trainer Henry de Bromhead in the G2 Parnell Properties Mares' Hurdle. With one day to go and some enticing rides on Friday which include another Cheveley Park Stud runner A Plus Tard (Fr) (Kapgarde {Fr}) in the G1 Well Child Cheltenham Gold Cup, it seems likely that Blackmore will end the week on top.

While she rightly dislikes references to her being a female jockey, the fact remains that her outstanding achievements will ease the way for other women following in her wake. It is not unthinkable that Blackmore will become champion jockey in Ireland—she is currently battling it out with Paul Townend—and the same goes for Hollie Doyle on the Flat in Britain this coming season. Such an idea, that two women would be so dominant in the jockey ranks, could not have been entertained even five years ago.

Typically, though, Blackmore deflects the praise to the horses who have carried her to her lofty position. Commenting on the 7-year-old Allaho, she said, “For a jockey, when you're getting legged-up on these kind of horses for Willie Mullins and Henry de Bromhead, they just know their job, it's fantastic.

“He was just jumping and travelling. He's just a real galloper and that's how I rode him. It was either going to work, or it wasn't, and look, it worked. It was only when I came back in and people were saying that we went some gallop, but he felt in his comfort zone everywhere. It was fantastic.”

The last few months have brought a mixture of sadness and angst for those connected to Cheveley Park Stud. On Dec. 29, the organisation lost its patriarch David Thompson, who acquired the historic stud with his wife Patricia back in 1975. Though more readily associated with the Flat over more than four decades, it was Thompson's particular love of jumpers that prompted a rash of high-profile purchases in recent seasons and, though expensively procured, they have also been incredibly well selected.

The horse that was perhaps the most widely expected to secure his third successive Cheltenham Festival victory coming into this week was Envoi Allen (Fr) (Muhtathir {GB}), who was sent off as 4/9 on for the G1 Marsh Novices' Chase but fell at the fourth fence under Jack Kennedy. The 7-year-old was one of eight horses moved by Cheveley Park Stud in the wake of the publication of the controversial Gordon Elliott photograph, as was Sir Gerhard. Such a decision, with just two weeks to those horses' main targets of the season, would not have been an easy one to make and will undoubtedly have caused much consternation for the owners, who also have the unbeaten Quilixios (GB) (Maxios {GB}) as second-favourite for Friday's G1 JCB Triumph Hurdle.

Reflecting on her association with Cheveley Park Stud, Blackmore said, “It was a disappointing start to the day for [the Thompson family], but look Envoi Allen is up and he is okay, and so is Jack, and that's the main thing. They will live to fight another day. I'm very grateful to them for being so supportive of me and giving me the opportunities on their horses.”

Willie Mullins, who also trains last year's winner Min, added, “Allaho did everything right. The first thing I did when Rachael come back in was lift her number cloth to see if the lead bag was in there as it looked like Allaho was just carrying Rachael around there! He was just awesome. His galloping and his jumping, if you put it together I was hoping he could do that over three miles, but if he is only a two-and-a-half mile horse that will do me.”

He continued, “Watching him at home, all the time everyone has felt he is a galloper and a jumper and that you don't need to hold him up. I was sort of as gobsmacked as anyone else watching it as I fully expected the two horses in front to probably collapse coming to the third last and if they did you would have said they have gone too fast and took each other on, but that is their style of racing and that was the plan from the start and we just had to hope one of them would be good enough.”

Cromwell Floored By Success

While Willie Mullins and Henry de Bromhead been prominent this week with four winners apiece, the 17 victories for Irish-trained horses from 21 races have also been spread out among their compatriots. Gordon Elliott's stable, now under the care of Denise 'Sneezy' Foster, has had a winner each day, while Noel Meade, Paul Nolan and Paul Hennessy have also enjoyed winners. One of the most impressive performances, from another front-running ride, was that of Flooring Porter (Ire) (Yeats {Ire}), who made all, jumping exuberantly, to land the G1 Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle.

The 6-year-old's trainer Gavin Cromwell first came to wider prominence when Espoir d'Allen (Fr) won the Champion Hurdle two years ago, the spring after his Princess Yaiza (Ire) (Casamento {Ire}) provided him with a major Flat win on Arc weekend in the G2 Qatar Prix de Royallieu. Tragically, Espoir d'Allen died just months after Cheltenham following an injury to his shoulder during training. Deservedly, the softly spoken Cromwell, who started out in the racing business as a farrier, now has another exciting young hurdler on his hands.

Admitting that it was a “fairytale” to win another of the Festival's championship races, he said, “We won a Champion Hurdle a couple of years ago and it was massive. I didn't think I'd ever win a race in Cheltenham, and to come back and win a second one is fantastic.”

He added of Flooring Porter, who was unsold at €5,500 when offered for sale as a 3-year-old and is owned by a syndicate led by carpet shop owner Ned Hogarty, “We came across this fella by accident. He was a very cheap store and progressed right through the ranks. It's a bit of a fairytale, really, and just goes to show that it is possible with a cheap one. He wasn't bought expecting him to be a Grade 1 horse.”

There was a sting in the tale for jockey Jonathan Moore, who has partnered Flooring Porter in 11 of his 15 starts but stood himself down on Thursday morning having failed to recover sufficiently from a race fall on Sunday. Danny Mullins instead took the ride and recorded his first win at the Festival.

Cromwell added, “Danny gave him a smashing ride. It's very unfortunate for Johnny Moore that he couldn't ride him. Thankfully, and rightfully so, he stood himself down, and he suggested Danny would be well suited to the horse. Johnny has ridden him all along and brought him all the way to here, and it is very unfortunate for him. Hats off to Johnny, it was so unselfish and I'm very grateful to him.”

Flooring Porter completed a Grade 1 double on the day for the four-time Ascot Gold Cup winner and Castle Hyde Stud resident Yeats following the win of JP McManus's Chantry House (Ire) in the March Novices' Chase. Yeats has also been represented this week by two impressive handicap-winning mares, Heaven Help Us (Ire) and Mount Ida (Ire).

The late Whytemount Stud resident Stowaway (Ire) has also had a good week, his four winners including the Grade 1 scorers Monkfish (Ire) and Put The Kettle On (Ire), as well as Telmesomethinggirl (Ire) and The Shunter (Ire), while Kilcruit was runner-up in the G1 Weatherbys Champion Bumper and Fiddlerontheroof (Ire) was second to Monkfish.

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