Blackmore announces retirement after glittering career

Jockey Rachael Blackmore has announced her retirement after a 16-year career in the saddle.

The Tipperary rider won the Aintree Grand National in 2021 on Minella Times as well as the Cheltenham Gold Cup on A Plus Tard in 2022.

In doing so she became the first female jockey to win either of the races, considered jumps racing's most prestigious.

The 35-year-old had 18 victories in total at the Cheltenham Festival, and was also the first woman to be leading jockey at Prestbury Park five years ago.

Having won the two-mile Champion Chase at the 2024 Festival with Captain Guinness, Bob Olinger's Stayers' Hurdle win two months ago meant Blackmore had ticked off the final championship event at Cheltenham – a feat very few jockeys complete during their career.

Her last race was a winner at Cork on Henry de Bromhead's Ma Belle Etoile on Saturday,

Blackmore, who was named RTÉ Sport Sportsperson of the year in 2021, said: "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."

Blackmore described John 'Shark' Hanlon as a catalyst for her career as the trainer provided her with a first winner, but paid special tribute to De Bromhead.

She partnered with the Waterford handler and it brought the outstanding victories in her career, including with the mare Honeysuckle for two Champion Hurdle successes.

"A conversation between Eddie O'Leary and Henry de Bromhead in a taxi on the way to Aintree took my career to a whole new level. Eddie got me in the door at Knockeen, and what came next was unimaginable: Honeysuckle, A Plus Tard, Minella Indo, Captain Guinness, Bob Olinger, Minella Times, among many others… all with one thing in common – Henry de Bromhead.

"He's a phenomenal trainer who brought out the best in me. Without Henry, my story is very different."

Blackmore has not revealed her future plans as of yet, concluding: "It is daunting, not being able to say that I am a jockey any more.

"But I feel so incredibly luck to have had the career I've had.

"To have been in the right place at the right time with the right people, and to have gotten on the right horses - because it doesn't matter how good you are without them.

"They have given me the best days of my life and to them I am most grateful."

Hanlon provided Rachael Blackmore with her very first winner on Stowaway Peal back in 2011 and paid tribute to the ground-breaking jockey after her announcement.

"From the first day she started with me she was an amazing girl," he said. "She was point-to-pointing at the time and what frightened me about her was she was so brave and I was afraid she'd get hurt.

"I remember asking her to go professional, she didn’t want to and her parents didn’t want to, but I said if it didn’t work out she could go back (to being amateur).

"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.

"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."