The world of National Hunt racing is no doubt in as much shock as is this writer with the news on Monday evening that trailblazing lady rider Rachael Blackmore has called time on her glory-laden career with immediate effect.
The 35-year-old native of Killenaule, Co Tipperary smashed glass ceilings not just in horse racing, but in sport in general for female competitors that not all that long ago would’ve been unthinkable.
Consider that, after Ann Ferris in 1984, it was a further 27 years before Nina Carberry (Walsh) MEP became the next lady rider to win the Irish Grand National aboard Organisedconfusion for her uncle Arthur Moore. Then, two years thereafter, Nina’s sister-in-law Katie Walsh (O’Sullivan) got in on the act, partnering Thunder And Roses for Sandra Hughes and Gigginstown House Stud.
Now, you’re no doubt noticing the irony that, having mentioned Ann and Nina and Katie, the Irish National was probably the only one of jump racing’s big races Rachael didn’t bag. However, it is probably fairly safe to assume that she herself was inspired by the deeds and aura of the other two leading ladies.
I would never seek to compare the stars against each other than to opine that Rachael took her profile and that of ladies in sport to unforeseeable levels. Winning the Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle, Grand National and everything else in between.
But the true extent of Rachael’s greatness may actually lie in the influence she had and no doubt will continue to have outside of her deeds in the plate. As in, it was often mentioned on these pages previously that, you know somebody has made it in their field of expertise when people with no knowledge of or interest therein know who you are.
Like, say, Luke Littler in darts or Johnny Sexton in rugby, where, for a certain cohort of people – yours truly included – mention of their Christian name is all that’s required to guarantee recognition. For me, when I started punting, whoever was writing out my bets (as I am unable to write by hand in a discernable fashion) always concluded the exercise with the query “And Nina in the Bumper”?
For the generation that followed, the calling card of the casual – i.e. Cheltenham or Grand National – punter became ‘What’s Rachael riding’? Which is why a fair guess would be hazarded that Minella Times may have been one of the most backed Grand National winners of all time in 2021.
But of course there were many more than that one. There was Honeysuckle and Tellmesomethinggirl and A Plus Tard and Envoi Allen and Bob Olinger and Slade Steel and Air Of Entitlement.
The Henry/Rachael double act became the highlight of an entire era. Not just the horses, or even the history. First lady rider to win the Champion Hurdle, Gold Cup, Stayers Hurdle, Grand National and have a right go at being champion jockey.
No, there was something much more than the employer/employee dynamic to their vibe. As in, Rachael was very much part of the Knockeen family – indeed, you get the feeling all the staff were on a similar footing. Though the manner in which the De Bromhead sisters, Georgia and Mia, leaned on Rachael in the wake of their brother Jack’s death was as obvious as it was moving.
Yet before any of them, there was Stowaway Pearl and Hewick.
Before Henry De Bromhead, there was The Shark. If ever there was an epitome of the ordinary person’s racing person, it’s John Joseph Hanlon, or quite simply Big John or as those of us fortunate enough to have spent time in the company of the big fella, he’s just Shark.
However, he is so much more than that. He is a giver of chances, a facilitator of dreams. For owners, jockeys and horses. Few if anybody could buy two horses for a combined total of €1700 – cast-offs from the yards of WP Mullins and Alan King no less – and turn them into superstars for their new connections.
Which is exactly what Shark did with Skyace and Hewick. Now, I honestly cannot recall if Rachael ever partnered Skyace, but she was a huge part of the Hewick story. Guiding Shark’s stable star to victory in the BET365 Gold Cup (formerly the Whitbred) on the last day of the jumps season at Sandown.
Though the connection between Rachael and the Hanlon family being much more fundamental than that. In that it was Shark who gave her the start every one of us needs no matter what line of work we’re in.
It was also the former cattle drover who convinced her to turn professional when neither the lady herself orn her parents Charles and Eimir were gone on the idea. How lucky are we, the racing public, that Big John is the sort of character you’d get hard to say no to!
Mind you, in the fullness of time, I believe that it will be Rachael’s influence and example out of the plate which will reverborate strongest. She, perhaps even without realising it, has become the face of horse racing. The prism through which major happenings in or around the sport are viewed.
Whether that be her inspiring of the next wave of lady riders like Jody Townend, Sarah Cavanagh, Emily Doyle, Hannah Smullen or Nicola Burns or the manner in which she was very much the face of the sport when it was enveloped in grief, disbelief and sadness following the tragic losses of both Jack De Bromhead and Michael O’Sullivan and her own young cousin Robert.
Trailblazer, trend setter, ceiling smasher. Humble inspiration, the greatest role model. The world is her oyster whatever road she may take. Go well Rachael, and thank you.
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