Blackmore has the jump on rivals in bid to win jockeys title
TH THERE is a neat irony that Rac Rachael Blackmore is fighting it out with Paul Townend as she tries to m make history by winning the Irish jump jockeys championship.
It g goes back to the start of Black Blackmore’s racing journey with a pony called Tommy.
‘In m my first experience of pony racing racing, I actually beat Paul Towne Townend by a nose,’ said Blackm Blackmore (below). ‘It was a big highlig highlight for me. Little did I think we’d be where we are now today.
‘It’s quite funny now watching the video back. Paul is only 12 or 13 and looks so polished, like he’s going to be a champion jockey of the future. I just look horrendous beside him but I won anyway!’
People are now talking about Blackmore being a possible champion, which would be a landmark moment for the sport.
The retired Nina Carberry and Katie Walsh, with 10 Cheltenham Festival winners between them, were hugely successful amateur jockeys in Ireland, while in Britain both Bryony Frost and Lizzie Kelly have ridden Grade One winners.
But being a champion jockey contender has still seemed a million miles away, even for the most successful Flat jockeys in Britain such as Hayley Turner and Josephine Gordon.
Blackmore trails Townend by six winners (91-84) in the title race, with big names such as Jack Kennedy, Davy Russell and Ruby Walsh behind her. Her 532 rides is almost 150 more than the next most in-demand jockey.
The Gigginstown Stud operation of Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has thrown its weight behind Blackmore’s challenge and will also supply her with a clutch of opportunities to win her first Cheltenham Festival race when the meeting starts a week on Tuesday.
Blackmore has already defied the odds simply to become a contender. Unlike many of the main players in Ireland, she has no family background in the sport — her father is a dairy farmer and her mother a school teacher. She was also a late recruit to racing, completing her education which included studying science at University College Dublin, Equine Science in Limerick. She now enjoys the support of Ireland’s biggest two trainers, Gordon Elliott and Willie Mullins, and has struck up a lucrative partnership with Henry De Bromhead as well as maintaining links with Shark Hanlon, the trainer who persuaded her to turn professional.
Blackmore said: ‘I could never have dreamt of being a jockey. When I turned professional, a few people said, “Jeez, do you want to do this?” and that it was not the best decision.
‘But when I balanced things up I had nothing to lose. In Ireland, you can ride 25 winners and still turn back to an amateur if you want so I gave it a go. I love what I’m doing.’
CHELTENHAM Gold Cup favourite Presenting Percy, who will try to win the big prize without a previous run over fences this season, had a special schooling session at Galway racecourse yesterday. Fences were flipped so that the Pat Kelly-trained gelding could race left-handed on the normally right-handed track.