PARTY? ‘MORE THE MERRIER..
RACHAEL BLACKMORE says her historic Grand National win still hasn’t sunk in, but has vowed to throw a party to celebrate it when the time is right.
The Tipperary native became the first female jockey to win the race after partnering Minella Times to victory at Aintree on Saturday.
Tributes have poured in from all around the world after the 31-year-old won the marathon contest just three weeks after riding six winners at the Cheltenham Festival.
A victory party is currently on hold, but Blackmore told RTE’S Morning Ireland: “We’ll have to celebrate it properly when the world is back to normal. I think we’ll have to mark it with a bit of a party.”
Asked if the victory had sunk in yet, she added: “No I don’t think it has. I don’t know if it will for a while. It’s just incredible. It really, really is.
“Every child with a pony grows up thinking about the Grand National. It’s the first race that captured my imagination as a child. You dream about it. You dream about riding in the race and to actually go and win it takes it to a whole new level.
“It was just an incredible feeling. I don’t know if my English vocabulary even has the words to describe it.”
On what she was thinking during the race, Blackmore added: “I was hoping that Jett would come back to us and thankfully he did.
“When he was coming back on the turn in, my horse grabbed the bit again and was happy to go forward but it is a very long run-in from the back of the last in Aintree so you are trying to just save a bit and not fully commit until you get to the rail and the winning line is in sight.
“I was able to hear the commentator say, just as we came back onto the racecourse properly, that I was four lengths in front. I knew my horse was going to keep galloping to the line and you kind of start believing it then and it’s just absolute elation.
“It’s so massive. It’s such a special race.
“I finished 10th in it last year and I got a kick out of that. There’s no other race that you’ll finish placed in and get a buzz of it. The Grand National, that’s why it’s so special because that happens.”
She also paid tribute to trainer Henry de Bromhead (inset), who trained Saturday’s Grand National winner as well as five of the horses Blackmore rode to victory at
Cheltenham.
She added: “You can be the best jockey, but you’re not going to win any races unless you have the ammunition under you. I’m very lucky to be associated with some very good trainers.
“Henry de Bromhead is exceptional. His achievements this year are just incredible. To win the three big races at Cheltenham and then to win a Grand National and have a second in the Grand National in Balko Des Flos as well is really just phenomenal stuff.
“I’m just delighted to be part of everything down there and part of a team and in a position to be getting rides on horses of that calibre.”