'Being at Cheltenham and not riding will be different'

Mum-to-be champ Rachael on retiring

- BY JERRY LAWTON

CHELTENHAM superstar and mum-to-be Rachael Blackmore admits that returning to the festival will be "difficult" this week because she misses the sport so much.

The retired champion, 36 — who remains the only woman to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Aintree’s Grand National — will be on the other side of the rails as the face of tomorrow’s Ladies’ Day.

Since hanging up her stirrups last May, she has married her long-term love and fellow jockey Brian Hayes, 37, and recently announced she is expecting their first baby.

But even before she was pregnant she could not ride for pleasure, though, because it made her realise how much she craved being a part of the racing world again.

She said of going back to the track where she notched up 18 big-race winners: “I don’t think the whole day will be easy.

“There’s parts of it that will be difficult because I absolutely love riding. I love racing. I loved Cheltenham above anywhere else to ride a winner. I miss it.

“Being there and not riding it will be different. I won’t be walking into the weigh room. I won’t have the same routines for the day. But I am really privileged that the career I had has given me a role in Cheltenham now that I am retired.