TIMES OF HER LIFE

Trailblazer Tipp jockey Rachael retires at the top

- DAVID COUGHLAN

AINTREE is where it really began for Rachael Blackmore and Aintree is where she made history.

Seven years ago Eddie O'Leary was sharing a cab to the track with Henry de Bromhead when the subject of jockey bookings came up.

O'Leary recommended the young Tipp jockey to De Bromhead.

The rest is racing history...

"My first ride for (De Bromhead) was a Gigginstown horse called Gangster at Kilbeggan in 2018," Blackmore told me at the Liverpool track in 2022.

"I think I finished about fifth and I remember ringing him after and I just remember thinking, 'That didn't go well'... I knew by him on the phone he wasn't overly impressed at my efforts on the horse.

"But thankfully I rode a few more for him and then things started to get going.

"My first winner for him was Balzac Turgot at Ballinrobe in 2018 and that was the start of it." From that point on there was no stopping Blackmore.

A Gold Cup, two Champion Hurdles, a host of Grade Ones and most famously a historic Grand National win on Minella Times in 2021.

She became the first woman ever to win the world's most famous jumps race, but was not going to be defined by gender.

"I don't feel male or female - I don't even feel human!" she said after winning the great race.

The enormity of that Grand National success took a bit of getting used to.

"There's definitely a massive global reach that the Grand National has and I really felt that," she said.

"The Grand National seems to reach different parts of the world that no other races do." With the win came new-found fame.

"Going to a random clothes shop in Dublin and you're dressed in your normal clothes and someone comes up to you... That's something that didn't happen before," she said.

Blackmore originally wanted to be a vet. She ended up one of most successful big-race jockeys the sport has ever known.