Rachael Blackmore

Irish National Hunt jockey Rachael Blackmore was born on 11 July 1989 and hails from Killenaule in County Tipperary.

She rode her first winner as an amateur jockey on 10 February 2011 at Thurles aboard Stowaway Pearl, although she previously enjoyed success in pony racing with her first win at the age of 13, beating fellow top jockey Paul Townend at Cork. Before turning professional in March 2015 at, she rode 11 point-to-point winners and seven winners under rules as an amateur.

While Rachael is keen for her success in the saddle to be considered on its merits, rather than being focused on her sex, she has set record after record in her career so far as she demonstrates that jump racing is not sport solely for men.

One of her notable early achievement was to become the first female jockey to win the Conditional Riders’ title in the 2016/2017 season with 32 winners.

Her first Cheltenham Festival winners came in 2019 when she rode A Plus Tard and Minella Indo to victory in the same week.

Rachael Blackmore’s first Grade One success in Ireland came on the De Bromhead-trained Honeysuckle in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares Novice Hurdle Championship Final at Fairyhouse on Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019.

On 16 March 2021 Rachael became the first female jockey to win the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham Festival aboard the Henry De Bromhead-trained Honeysuckle, and went on to become the first female to claim the Cheltenham Festival leading jockey title.

Just a few weeks later, she added winning the Grand National to her list of outstanding achievements.