 Blackmore on 'Aione' at Gowran Park 2020 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1989-07-11)11 July 1989 (age 36) Killenaule,County Tipperary, Ireland |
| Occupation | Jockey |
| Horse racing career | |
| Sport | Horse racing |
| Major racing wins | |
| Champion Hurdle (2021), (2022) Grand National (2021) Irish Champion Hurdle (2020), (2021), (2022) Cheltenham Gold Cup (2022) Champion Chase (2024) Stayers' Hurdle (2025) | |
| Honours | |
| HonoraryMBE (2023) | |
| Significant horses | |
| Honeysuckle Minella Times A Plus Tard | |
Rachael Blackmore (born 11 July 1989) is anIrish formerNational Huntjockey. In 2021, she became the first female jockey to win theGrand National in the 182-year history of the race. She also became the first woman to beleading jockey at theCheltenham Festival with six victories, including theChampion Hurdle, in 2021. The following year she became the first female jockey to win theCheltenham Gold Cup. She announced her immediate retirement on 12 May 2025, having won 575 races as a professional jockey.
Blackmore's achievements saw her named the 2021RTÉ Sports Person of the Year and the 2021BBC World Sport Star of the Year.
Rachael Blackmore was born on 11 July 1989,[1] daughter of a teacher and a farmer (Eimir and Charles), Blackmore grew up on a dairy farm inKillenaule,County Tipperary, Ireland, and first started riding ponies at just two years of age.[1] Growing up she took part in pony club meetings, hunting, eventing and pony racing.[2] She gained a degree in equine science at theUniversity of Limerick, while riding out and competing as an amateur jockey.[3]
Blackmore rode her first winner as an amateur jockey on 10 February 2011, when Stowaway Pearl, trained by John Joseph "Shark" Hanlon, won the Tipperary Ladies’ Handicap Hurdle atThurles.[4][2] She turned professional in March 2015, having ridden elevenpoint-to-point winners and seven winners under the Rules of Racing as an amateur rider. Her first winner as a professional was Most Honourable, trained by Hanlon, atClonmel on 3 September 2015.[4] In 2017, she became the first woman to win the conditional riders' championship in Ireland.[2]
Blackmore had her first ride in theGrand National in 2018. Her mount, Alpha des Obeaux, trained by Mouse Morris, went off at 33/1 and fell at the fifteenth fence,the Chair.[5]
Her firstCheltenham Festival winner came in 2019 when A Plus Tard landed theChase Brothers Novices' Handicap Chase. She then gained her first Grade 1 victory whenMinella Indo won theAlbert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle. Both winners were trained byHenry de Bromhead for whom Blackmore was by now riding as stable jockey. In the2019 Grand National Blackmore finished in tenth place on the de Bromhead-trained 66/1 chance Valseur Lido.[6]
Blackmore's first Grade 1 race victory in Ireland came in April 2019 whenHoneysuckle won the Mares' Novice Hurdle Championship Final atFairyhouse. Blackmore finished the season with 90 winners and took the runner-up spot in theIrish jump racing Champion Jockey competition behindPaul Townend. Honeysuckle provided Blackmore with another Cheltenham Festival win in theClose Brothers Mares' Hurdle in 2020. Blackmore finished third in the Irish National Hunt championship during the curtailed 2019–20 season.[4]
In 2021, she achieved two notable firsts at theCheltenham Festival, becoming the first female jockey to partner a winner of the Champion Hurdle when she rode Honeysuckle to victory and, by finishing with six winners across the four days, became the first female jockey to win theRuby Walsh Trophy for leading Cheltenham jockey.[7][8]
On 10 April of the same year, Blackmore rodeMinella Times to victory in the2021 Grand National, becoming the first female jockey to win the race. The gelding, trained by de Bromhead, went off as fourth favourite at 11/1 and, having given Blackmore a "sensational spin", passed the post 6½ lengths in front of stablemate and runner-up Balko Des Flos.[9]Due toCOVID-19 protocols, there were no spectators on the course to witness Blackmore's historic victory. Interviewed byITV after the race, she said: "I don't feel male or female right now. I don't even feel human.... It's unbelievable".[9] The following year she again partnered Minella Times in the race. Carrying top weight, Minella Times went off second favourite but fell atValentine's Brook.[10] In 2023, she finished last of the seventeen finishers on Ain't That A Shame, trained by de Bromhead.[11] In 2024 and 2025, she rode Minella Indo for de Bromhead, finishing third in 2024 and ninth in 2025.[12][13]
At the 2022 Cheltenham Festival, Blackmore secured a repeat win on Honeysuckle in the Champion Hurdle and then became the first female jockey to win theCheltenham Gold Cup, riding favouriteA Plus Tard to a 15-length victory.[14] At the 2023 Festival, she rode Honeysuckle to win theDavid Nicholson Mares' Hurdle for a second time on the mare's final racecourse appearance. Blackmore had ridden Honeysuckle in all her races, including thirteen Grade 1 wins in Britain and Ireland.[15][16] Victory on Captain Guinness in theQueen Mother Champion Chase in 2024 and on Bob Olinger in theStayers' Hurdle in 2025 gave Blackmore a full-house of feature races at the Festival.[17] A fall atDownpatrick in September 2024, in which she sustained an injury to her neck, left Blackmore unable to race for three months.[18]
Although primarily a National Hunt jockey, Blackmore occasionally rode on the flat, achieving twelve successes over her career.[19] The first was in May 2017 and the most notable was the Group 3Brontë Cup atYork in May 2024, riding Term Of Endearment for de Bromhead.[20][21]
On 12 May 2025, Blackmore announced her immediate retirement from professional racing. Writing onX, she said:[19]
"My days of being a jockey have come to an end. I feel the time is right. I'm sad but I'm also incredibly grateful for what my life has been for the past 16 years. I just feel so lucky to have been legged up on the horses I have, and to have experienced success I never even dreamt could be possible."
In her final race two days earlier, she had ridden Ma Belle Etoile to victory for de Bromhead atCork. It was the 575th winner of her career as a professional jockey.[22]
As of April 2025, Blackmore is in a long-term relationship with jockey Brian Hayes.[3][23]
Ireland[24]
Great Britain
On 17 December 2021, Blackmore was namedThe Irish Times' Ireland Sportswoman of the Year 2021.[25] The same week she was crownedHorse Racing Ireland Irish Racing Hero andRTÉ Sports Person of the Year.[26] On 19 December she received theBBC Sports Personality World Sport Star of the Year.[27]
Blackmore was appointed anHonorary Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the2023 Special Honours for services to sport.[28]
Friday lunchtime at the Shelbourne Hotel, and such is the range and calibre of the starring cast at the 18th staging of The Irish Times/Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Year awards that in the end the overall winner comes down to the only one to go where no woman in the world has gone before. Enter Rachael Blackmore.
| Achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | BBC World Sport Star of the Year 2021 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| Artists | |
