NATIONAL TREASURE!
Rachael is first woman rider to win the great race
SHE had just galloped into the history books as the first woman to win the Grand National – so no wonder Rachael Blackmore struggled to sum up her achievement.
‘I don’t feel male or female right now,’ the elated jockey told reporters. ‘I don’t even feel human.’
The Irish rider, regarded as the ‘reluctant heroine’ of horse racing, had also left bookmakers struggling for words by winning at Aintree on the heavily supported 11/1 shot Minella Times, with an estimated £100million being wagered on the race.
An emotional Rachael sought to play down her triumph in the world’s most famous horse race,
I don’t feel male or female right now… I don’t even feel human
saying: ‘There’s plenty left to conquer. I’ll be riding in the next race but I’ll be floating.’
The teetotal 31-year-old daughter of a dairy farmer and schoolteacher from County Tipperary won on the Irish-trained Minella Times just a few weeks after becoming the first female rider to win the prestigious top jockey prize at the Cheltenham Festival.
There were no spectators to applaud her at the Merseyside track because of coronavirus protocols, but her historic achievement was not lost on the jockeys, trainers and owners in attendance who cheered the rider and horse back into the winners’ enclosure.
After last year’s race was cancelled because of the pandemic, the 173rd Grand National saw 40 runners come under the starter’s orders after observing two minutes’ silence in honour of Prince Philip. Rachael, one of three female riders in the race, was one of the pre-race favourites.
She has enjoyed a late, meteoric rise to the top after only winning her first Grade 1 race in 2019 and is now being hailed as the best jockey in Ireland by legends of the sport such as Tony McCoy and Ruby
Walsh. Dedicated to her profession, Rachael and her boyfriend Brian Hayes share a house in Ireland with Patrick Mullins, son of legendary Irish horse trainer Willie.
Patrick Mullins revealed her enthusiasm for baking as a way to relieve stress. ‘When I moved in, Brian and I would have been going racing most days,’ he said.
‘Rachael wasn’t. She used to do a lot of baking on those days – which was like her way of punching the wall.’
On her winning mentality, Mr Mullins said: ‘When things went wrong it would annoy her for a long time. She’d come home, watch the replay, rewind it, watch it again. She’s got better at handling defeat. She has the maturity on the big day to be able to handle whatever comes.’
Rachael grew up on a dairy farm run by her father Charles, who also bred horses, while her mother Eimer was a primary schoolteacher.
Rachael got her first horse aged seven and named it Bubbles. ‘In the early days we always had horses at home on the family farm, as well as sheep, so I spent my spare time either looking after pet lambs or riding,’ she recalled.
Stars from across the sporting and TV world paid tribute to the triumphant jockey yesterday, with some fans already calling for her to win the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award.
Broadcaster Clare Balding tweeted: ‘Rachael Blackmore makes history. Fabulous.’ And Piers Morgan praised her ‘stunning achievement’.