It’s a huge thrill to write the first page of sporting history
Rachael Blackmore’s ride into the record books as the first female winner of the Grand National delighted Ben Burrows
Even with microphone in hand, Rachael Blackmore didn’t put a foot wrong. “I don’t feel male or female right now – I don’t even feel human,” she said.
The Irishwoman was speaking after becoming the first female jockey to win the world famous Grand
National on Saturday afternoon aboard Minella Times. Victory in the world’s greatest steeplechase caps a few weeks to remember for Blackmore, whose every touch at the minute appears to be turning to racing gold.
First came history at the Cheltenham Festival where she became the first female winner of the storied Champion Hurdle. Five further wins saw her take home the Ruby Walsh Trophy as the meeting’s top jockey, again another first. After conquering Cheltenham, the national was no match either as a new Queen of Aintree was crowned.
In the form she is in the writing was on the wall as soon as she took the Henry de Bromhead-trained eightyear-old into the lead before the final fence, although she had to keep him up to his work as the course’s elbow approached. But Blackmore and the 11-1 shot were not for stopping, though, and galloped into racing folklore to win in the famed colours of JP McManus on a day that will be long remembered by both avid and casual fans alike.
Covering historic moments such as those that unfolded on Saturday are what you get into sports journalism for, those unmatched highs that you etch on to fresh pages of the history books. There will be no other first female winner of the national, that is now Blackmore’s honour forever. Not that she sees herself that way, of course.
“This is a massive deal for me personally, not the fact I’m a female,” she said afterwards. “The thing that hit me when I crossed the line was that I’d won the national, not that I’m the first female to win the national. I’m just delighted.”