Owner Kenny Alexander has hailed Rachael Blackmore as “the best thing that’s happened to the sport in decades” as he reflected on her career and celebrated association with dual Champion Hurdle winner Honeysuckle following her retirement from the saddle.
Blackmore, 35, stunned the racing world with the sudden announcement on Monday, putting an end to her phenomenal career, and Alexander was the latest to pay tribute to the trailblazing rider who rode 35 winners in his silks, including five at the Cheltenham Festival.
Four of those triumphs on the biggest stage came on Honeysuckle and Blackmore partnered the prolific mare on all 19 of her starts, steering her to 17 wins including 13 Grade 1 successes.
The pair shone at Cheltenham, landing successive Champion Hurdles in 2021 and 2022 in between two Mares’ Hurdles, the last of which was particularly poignant as the Henry de Bromhead-trained star went out in a blaze of glory in her final race.
Alexander singled out the pair’s first Cheltenham success in 2020 as a highlight, with Blackmore’s talents on full display as she rocketed up the inside on Honeysuckle turning for home before fending off Benie Des Dieux by half a length.
Kenny Alexander (centre) with Rachael Blackmore and Henry de Bromhead after Honeysuckle’s first Mares’ Hurdle victoryCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)
“She has been a great, great jockey,” he said. “She’s the best thing that has happened to the sport in decades. She was brilliant from start to finish on Honeysuckle. They had some really great days together.
“Everybody remembers the Champion Hurdles or her final win at Cheltenham, but it was her first win at Cheltenham that sums Rachael up. That’s the one that everyone forgets – the day she sneaked up the inside on the home turn and won the Mares’ Hurdle. She had nerves of steel. That was such an incredible ride.
“She was absolutely fearless and always got the job done no matter what. Not only was she a top, top jockey but she is such a nice person to go along with it. I cannot think of even one race that she should have won but didn’t. When the pressure was really on, that’s when she performed best. The bigger the occasion, the better she was. If my life depended on it and I needed a jockey to get the job done, I would have picked Rachael every day of the week.”
Honeysuckle jumps the last alongside Love Envoi in the 2023 Mares’ HurdleCredit: Alan Crowhurst
The moment Blackmore galvanised Honeysuckle to land her fourth successive festival win will live long in the memory. The victory came at the first festival after the tragic loss of De Bromhead’s son Jack in a pony racing accident at the age of 13.
Alexander said: “The last one with Honeysuckle, the day she bowed out at the festival, the pressure was really on. That was such an iconic moment and she managed to give the De Bromhead family a bit of light in the darkest of moments that day.
“She’s won everything, she’s done it all and she has produced so many iconic moments over the years. She’s done wonders for racing and I wish her the very best of luck in the future. She’s a star.”
Paul Townend: ‘She was the whole package’
Blackmore finished second twice in the Irish jockeys’ championship, running Paul Townend closest in 2020-21 when finishing eight winners behind, and the champion jockey paid tribute to “an incredible rider”.
“I was surprised as anyone, I didn’t see it coming,” said Townend. “What a career she had and she’s going out on her own terms. She was the whole package. Horses really ran for her. I actually think when she burst on to the scene, we had to adapt to her in the race as she got Henry’s horses really running and jumping for her.
“Regardless of gender, she was just an incredible rider. In a race, you’re looking to be around the best riders and she was one of the ones you’d pick out. If you were near her, you were in the right position. She could get a horse to run above their ability, she was just very good and very natural as well. She could ride any kind of race, whether she sent them out and jumped and galloped or dropped one in and landed them on the line.
“To win the Stayers’ this year and complete all the championship races at Cheltenham was brilliant for her. It’s something she can be very proud of and she can be very proud of it all.”
Bob Olinger and Rachael Blackmore after winning this year’s Stayers’ HurdleCredit: Patrick McCann
Away from her exploits on the track, Townend said Blackmore’s presence would be sorely missed in the weighing room.
He added: “We’d have travelled together going racing plenty and she just fitted in everywhere. You could have a serious conversation with her as quick as you’d have a slag and a bit of craic. She’ll leave a big hole and will leave gaps and opportunities for others.
“What she’s done for horse racing and sport in general, it’s legendary. I wish her the best and she’ll be missed. It was brilliant to be riding with someone breaking through like that and be part of the history she made for herself. She was always hard to beat and never changed throughout everything.”
‘I never would have thought in my wildest dreams a young girl would achieve what Rachael did in my lifetime’ – more tributes pile in
Arthur Moore, trainer
She was a breath of fresh air and great fun when she first started riding out at ours. It was when she was in college and she just rang up as we were local enough. We had a quite a few horses at the time and it became more regular and she came in three times a week for a couple of years. She always had a laugh with everyone and was a joy to have around the place. When she started having all her success, I followed her closely and could see how brilliant she was over a fence, she really had a knack of getting horses to jump.
Everything was so natural with her, she had her own technique and could let a horse see a stride. She had no fear and had a great brain. She rode Cheltenham so well, and showed that again this year. They ran for her and she knew how to handle the track.
We got so much pleasure out of her continued success and also when she won the bumper at Aintree for us on Me Too Please (2021). She was part of our team at the start and we had that connection so we built up a close friendship. It was a joy to watch her success and to be a small part of it.
I had said to her on the Saturday of Punchestown: “Should I be waiting around?” and she said: “God, no!”, so it was a surprise to hear the news but she didn’t want the limelight and wanted to retire quietly.
I’m thrilled that she’s gone out the way she has as she could do no more.
Eddie O’Leary of owners Gigginstown House Stud for whom Blackmore rode 77 winners
She was a legend in her own lifetime. She brought professional lady jockeyship to a different level. A wonderful lady and a great ambassador to racing who will be very successful in whatever she does next.
Originally when she went into Henry, she was there to ride our horses but she got on very well with him and got the big job. Lady riders are super-fit athletes now. She raised that bar and was part of that revolution with her strength and conditioning.
Every horse, be it 0-100 handicap or at the top level, got the same ride and she was brilliant. You couldn’t speak highly enough of her and I’m delighted she’s gone out in one piece. Let her be the author of her own destiny and I’d presume RTE or ITV would love to snap her up now as she’s just super.
Ted Walsh, trainer and former RTE broadcaster
I admired her from the time she started as a professional. She was a very talented lady in every way. She had a great racing brain, she had all the skills required to be a great jockey and a top-class sportsperson, balance, strength and an exceptionally good brain. It is also a testament to her that she stood the test of time and saw it through as long as she did.
She could have been a flash in the pan but she wasn’t. She was a class act every step of the way. I’m delighted she had the success she did and I never would have thought in my wildest dreams a young girl would achieve what Rachael did in my lifetime. I lived through an era when women couldn’t even get a licence to ride on the track. Helen McDonogh was the first to get a licence back in 1968.
Rachael definitely broke all the boundaries. I’m 75 now and I can remember since the age of ten all the fine women riders that rode as amateurs who were very good. But if you asked me at any stage in my life could I see anybody doing what Rachael went on to do, I would have said no. She is a one off because she was able to withstand all the falls she took. Her success has proved that it can be done, but it is highly unlikely it ever will happen again in my lifetime or a lot of other people’s lifetime.
Katie Walsh: “Rachael rode with the best and took the injuries like the best of them”Credit: www.healyracing.ie
Katie Walsh, former jockey
She was in a league of her own in the way she held herself and the way she composed herself. She rode with the best and took the injuries like the best of them. It is a hard sport, it is really hard physically and the hits are hard and there are very few women who can face that like Rachael did.
She was so tactically aware in races and she was so good at managing trainers and owners, which is a huge part of it. I don’t call her a lady jockey. She was a perfect example of what a top-class National Hunt jockey needed to be and she was an inspiration to any jockey within the weighing room with how she conducted herself. Nobody could foresee her achievements.
The opportunities that she got, she grabbed them with both hands and she made sure that she didn’t mess up. This industry is all about opportunities and when she got one she never, ever missed.
Read these next:
‘I feel so incredibly lucky to have had the career I’ve had’ – groundbreaking jockey Rachael Blackmore announces her retirement
‘Everybody wants to be the next Rachael Blackmore’ – racing heavyweights pay tribute to record-breaking jockey
Rachael Blackmore’s career is evidence that there’s no such thing as an impossible dream
Rachael Blackmore’s heroes: the five horses who helped etch her name into greatness
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