Blackmore top jockey despite Gold Cup agony
After a week spent smashing glass ceilings, Rachael Blackmore made history again as the first woman to be crowned Cheltenham Festival leading jockey despite narrowly missing out on Gold Cup glory after ditching her usual mount, the eventual winner Minella Indo.
Victory in the Triumph Hurdle on Quilixios took Blackmore’s tally to six for the week, just one short of Ruby Walsh’s Festival record and two clear of her nearest rival.
Her spectacular week could well have ended in even more remarkable fashion had she not decided against riding Minella Indo in the Gold Cup. The pair had formed a formidable partnership for the horse’s previous 10 races, but Blackmore instead chose to ride Henry de Bromhead’s other leading fancy, A Plus Tard, and ended up beaten into second place.
That narrow defeat did little to tarnish a groundbreaking week which featured wins in the Champion Hurdle and Ryanair Chase.
“Oh man, it’s unbelievable,” said Blackmore, who prefers not to speak about her status as a woman
in a male-dominated sport. “I can’t even comprehend being leading jockey at Cheltenham. It’s crazy stuff. I’m in a very lucky position riding for some fantastic people. It’s such an incredible place and to be riding winners here is fantastic. When you’re riding horses that are primed for the day it makes your job a lot easier.
“You can make these decisions when you know you have an engine under you that will take you into a gap. It’s a lot easier when you’re on the right horse. I was hoping I’d get one winner. When that happens it’s some weight off your shoulders so everything is a bonus after that.”
Rueing her decision to opt for A Plus Tard over Minella Indo, she added: “I made the wrong choice.”
Twenty-time champion jockey Sir Anthony Mccoy said Blackmore’s exploits this week would change racing for ever. “I always thought for a woman to be leading jockey it would be difficult because of how physically demanding it is,” he told ITV. “But she’s proved this week, as Muhammad Ali said, ‘It’s not how many times you get knocked down, it’s how many times you get back up again’.”
Walsh, who was leading jockey at the Cheltenham Festival 11 times, said: “It’s incredible what she’s done.
“Tactically, all week she’s been in the right place on so many horses. The wider world will see her now for what she wants to be, and that’s just a jockey.”
Gold Cup-winning jockey Mick Fitzgerald added: “There’s an awful lot of young girls watching this who are thinking and believing that they might one day be winning races like the Champion Hurdle and becoming leading rider at the Cheltenham Festival.”
Watching from home in Ireland, Blackmore’s mother, Eimir, told ITV: “It’s been an absolute fairy tale. It’s incredible. My phone has melted. I feel immensely proud.”