History-maker Blackmore savours sweetest success
Rachael Blackmore was lost for words after steering Honeysuckle to an historic victory in the Unibet Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham.
Unlike many of her weighing-room colleagues, the 31-year-old was not bred to be a jockey, being the daughter of a dairy farmer and a secondary school teacher.
However, she is the perfect advertisement of where sheer hard work and perseverance can get you - rising from littleknown amateur to becoming one of the most respected members of her profession on either side of the Irish Sea in the space of six years.
Unbeaten in 10 previous starts and a brilliant winner of last year's Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown, Henry de Bromhead's Honeysuckle was all the rage to ensure Blackmore became the first female jockey to claim victory
in the sport's most iconic hurdle race.
Her legion of fans will have been shouting her on at home too, as the 11-10 favourite kicked clear into the straight and powered up the hill to beat old rival Sharjah by six and a half lengths.
"For me, this was never even a dream - it is so far from what I ever thought could happen in my life," said an emotional Blackmore. "Being in Cheltenham and riding a winner of a Champion Hurdle is so far removed from what I dreamt could be possible. Maybe there's a lesson in that for everyone out there."
In typically modest fashion, Blackmore was keen to heap praise on her willing partner and De Bromhead and his team, rather than taking due credit herself.
"I'm so thankful to be a part of her (Honeysuckle) - it's all about her," she said.
"You can't do it without getting on the right horses, and I've been extremely lucky in that sense, getting a link-up with a yard like Henry de Bromhead's.
"That is a massive part of every jockey's career - being in the right place at the right time and getting linked up with the right yard."
Blackmore recalled visiting the hugely popular three-time Champion Hurdle hero Istabraq as a schoolgirl.
"We went to see Istabraq on a school tour," she said. "I'm from Tipperary, so it was local.
"I never envisaged back then, when I went to see him, that I'd be riding the winner of a
Champion Hurdle - it's incredible.
"When every person becomes a jockey they dream about riding at Cheltenham and all these things, but riding a winner like this - I'm sorry for repeating myself - is just unbelievable."
Blackmore has always been reticent to discuss her achievements as a 'female jockey'.
This victory provides just more evidence, as if it were needed, that she is more than a match for her male counterparts. She said: "There's no deal about it any more, I don't think. It's not that I don't talk about it, I just think if you want to be a jockey you can be a jockey - drive on."
Thebiggestshame,ofcourse, is that Blackmore and Honeysuckle were not welcomed back into the hallowed winner's enclosure to the usual raucous fanfare.
"It still feels very special, but it's not the normal Cheltenham of old,” she added. “Hopefully we'll see the crowds back here next year."
Rugby has announced anew"landmark”globalwomen's tournament designed to accelerate the growth of the game.
The world governing body is investing £6.4million in the WXV tournament, which will launch in 2023 and feed into the expanded 2025 Rugby
World Cup. The competition will include 16 teams split into three tiers, with qualification based on regional tournaments including the Six Nations.
World Rugby chairman Sir Bill Beaumont said: "This is a landmark moment for the sport.
"Today's announcement of a new global international 15s calendar will underpin the future success and accelerate the development of the women's game."
The tournament will be played every year with the exception of World Cup years, with a window between September and November in the calendar.
Yesterday's announcement comes a week after the 2021 World Cup was pushed back to 2022 due to delays in the qualworld ification process as a result of the pandemic.
From 2025, the World Cup will expand from 12 teams to 16, with this new competition intended to provide more Test rugby to aid development.
The top three teams from the 2023 Six Nations will go into the first division of the new tournament, where they will face three nations drawn from Australia, Canada, New
Zealand and the United States (Oceania/ran).
The second tier will include two European nations, the fourth-placed team from Oceania/ran, plus one team from each of Oceania, Asia, and Africa, with a four-team third tier formed of two European teams, one team from Asia and the winner of an Africa v South America play-off.
Each tier will play a tournament in a single venue, with the top two tiers using a cross-pool format and the third tier using a round-robin format.
There will be promotion and relegation of regional positions between the tiers based on results, although there will be no promotion or relegation involving the top tier for the first year of the competition.
Irelandandmunsterback-row CJ Stander has announced he will retire from all forms of rugby at the end of the season.
The South Africa-born 30-year-old won his 50th Test cap for his adopted country during Sunday's 27-24 Guinness Six Nations win over Scotland.
Stander cited family reasons as the main motivation to call time on his career.
"All professional sportspeople are told 'you will know when the time is right to hang up your boots'," Stander posted on Instagram. "It's a sentiment one cannot fully comprehend until that day arrives.
"For me, that time has come, and I hereby publicly announce my retirement from all forms of rugby.
"I will be available to represent Munster until 27 June 2021 when my contract expires, and, for International duty, until the end of the midyear Test window."
Stander has been virtually ever-present for Ireland since his debut in 2016, having quali
fied under residency rules the previous year.
He was part of the 2017 British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand and represented Ireland
at the 2019 World Cup in Japan, as well as winning a Six Nations Grand Slam in 2018.
His statement continued: "I came to the realisation that my commitment to rugby has started to take an unfair toll on my family, who both in Limerick and South Africa have made considerable sacrifices for more than 25 years to allow me to live my dream."
Meanwhile, England centre Henry Slade is a doubt for Saturday’s clash with Ireland because of a calf problem. Slade sustained the injury in training on Monday.
England have called Harlequins
back Joe Marchant into camp as cover for Slade, but if he fails to recover in time then Ollie Lawrence or Paolo Odogwu are most likely to benefit by filling the vacancy in midfield.
Wales tackle France in Paris on Saturday, when victory would give them a sixth Six Nations crown and fifth Grand Slam.
Wales assistant coach Jonathan Humphreys said: "We believe we are going up against one of the best teams in the world, and that we are going to have to be at our very, very best to get what we want from the weekend.”