It has taken 44 years and 32 attempts but on April 10th 2021, Ireland’s Rachael Blackmore re-wrote the Grand National record books by winning the fabled Grand National – the world’s most famous horse race.
Charlotte Brew was the first woman to ride in the great race way back in 1977 – it was the first year that female jockeys were allowed to compete in the Grand National following the passing of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975.
At huge betting odds of 200/1 Charlotte’s horse, Barony Fort, was a genuine no-hoper as were most of the rides given to women jockeys during the next 20 years when only one of the 14 horses they rode even completed the course.
A New Dawn
The new millennium did bring in a new generation of female riders and attitudes towards them. This culminated in Katie Walsh finishing third in the 2012 Grand National on joint-favourite Seabass at betting odds of 8/1. However amongst 16 female riders to contest the race this was the first and only time one of their mounts finished within the top-4 or each-way paying places for betting purposes.
Forward-wind nine years and Rachael Blackmore’s triumph aboard Minella Times saw her right so many formbook wrongs. Yes, this was the first victory for a woman rider in 33 attempts but given that 40 horses contest the race every year a female ridden Grand National winner was not exactly overdue.
But Blackmore’s victory on Minella Times for billionaire Irish owner and legendary gambler JP McManus will be remembered for years to come as she has done something unique, she has landed the world’s best known horse race.
Leading The Way
A pace-setter in horse racing? Indeed she is. But Rachael Blackmore’s Grand National win is no flash-in-the-pan and horse racing betting experts were well aware of her prowess in the saddle and tactical brilliance.
Not only has 31-year-old Rachael Blackmore become a household name throughout the UK and Ireland, amongst racehorse trainers she is deemed hot-property, the rider all the major stables want to book for big races.
In 2021 this much sought after rider became the first female rider to be top jockey at the Cheltenham Festival winning six races. Amongst those was the Champion Hurdle and she almost landed the showpiece Gold Cup race finishing second.
Considered a ground-breaker in racing circles, Blackmore turned professional in 2015 – the first woman to do so since Maria Cullen 30 years earlier – and she made history as the first woman to win the Conditional Riders Championship (for young up-and-coming riders in 2017).
How Did It All Begin?
Rachael’s recent achievements are no overnight success story and her background is as remarkable as her results.
From County Tipperary in the agricultural heart of Ireland, her father is a dairy farmer, her mother a teacher. And so she was not reared in a racing family like so many other leading jockeys. But living on a farm she had ponies and horses around her which led to pony racing in a field where she had her first winning ride aged 13.
That was 2002 and between then and 2011, when she rode her first winner at Thurles for trainer John ‘Shark’ Hanlon, she had gained a comprehensive education culminating in a degree in equine science with aspirations to become a vet. Hanlon was of the opinion that her veterinary career could wait and he convinced her that she had the talent to succeed in the male-dominated sport of horse racing.
How right he was and while the term ‘pioneer’ would do the female jockeys who inched the bar higher and higher over the past 40+ years an injustice, make no mistake she has risen it to a point where all professional riders of the future will aspire to reach.