Aintree groans as Rachael’s bumpy fall dashes dreams

IT IS the place for a fairytale, as we saw once again, but it is also the place that will bring you crashing back down to earth.

Rachael Blackmore did not need to be told that before she got the leg up in her attempt to make history once more, but there was a bumpy reminder for her in the Grand National, the kind that was met with muffled groans across Aintree.

With all due respect to the connections of Noble Yeats, the gelding that propelled Sam Waley Cohen into retirement in a scarcely believable manner, the success that many craved was for Blackmore to repeat last year’s triumph on Minella Times.

The past 12 months have turned her world upside down and, to understand how, you only had to follow her through the hubbub of the 27 minutes that led to the tapes going up on the 2022 race.

At 4.52pm, Blackmore led the 39 other riders out of the weighing room for the formalities in the parade ring, where she joined the four other jockeys wearing the distinctive green-and-gold silks of owner JP McManus.

They had gathered to talk with trainers Charlie Swan and Frank Berry, two of McManus’s most trusted aides. But soon Blackmore was being pulled to one side — someone else wanted a pre-race audience: it was Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall.

Photographs, instructions, a Royal audience: all in the space of four minutes. Soon, McManus, the Irish billionaire, arrived in the parade ring with his wife, Noreen. Blackmore was greeted with a kiss on the cheek and warm smile from the 71-year-old, who had earlier in the afternoon seen Gentlemen De Mee and Sire Du Berlais give him a high-class Grade One double.

It had been an incredible week for McManus, with Epatante, Jonbon and Fakir D’Oudairies also landing Grade One prizes. But you sensed that were Minella Times to emulate Tiger Roll and become a dual winner of the National would have meant the world.

‘God bless her, Rachael is wonderful,’ McManus said. ‘Just to see her back, riding in front of the crowds, is something special.’

McManus spent 10 minutes speaking to Blackmore and Henry de Bromhead, the trainer with whom she has such a potent relationship, to the exclusion of the others. It was not hard to see that a bold show was expected.

Minella Times looked beautiful, his bay coat gleaming in the sun. After more yelps of ‘Go on Rachael!’ — she was cheered all the way down the walkway to the track — it was time for business and she galloped to post alongside Escaria Ten and Noble Yeats. When the tapes were raised, the pair got into a nice rhythm but, in the blink of eye, it was all over. ‘He just jumped into the back of one at the ninth and fell,’ Blackmore explained.

Thankfully, Minella Times made his own way home and De Bromhead was happy to confirm he was safe and well. Regrettably, the same could not be said for Discorama, who was pulled up after suffering a fatal injury.

Blackmore was phlegmatic as she and De Bromhead watched replays on the big screen. The 32-year-old left quietly, without any fuss. You could not help feel, however, a sense of regret.

To hear the noise and see the colour of the racecourse alive, it was hard not to think what reception Blackmore would have got 12 months ago when she created her legend. We must hope there will be another chance in the future.