Can Rachael Blackmore Improve On Her Cheltenham Festival Record?

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rachael blackmore hugging henry de bromhead after gold cup win at cheltenham festival

Perhaps a jockey that has gone under the radar in recent years, but who quietly goes about her business, Rachael Blackmore has shown impressive quality during her career, especially at the Cheltenham Festival, while she is one of a few jockeys who can boast a Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand National double..

In total, she has 16 wins during the famous Cheltenham week, though it hasn’t always been plain sailing.

The 35-year-old didn’t get her first wins at the festival until 2019 when she rode both A Plus Tard (Close Brothers Novices’ Handicap Chase) and Minella Indo (Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle) to victory.

The rest followed fairly fluidly after that and Blackmore started to carve out a name for herself as a jockey that could deliver on big occasions. Indeed, a year later, she rode Honeysuckle to victory in the David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle, while in 2021 she became the first female jockey to be awarded the Ruby Walsh Trophy for the most amount of winners in a week with six, including Honeysuckle – this time in the Champion Hurdle.

She followed this up one year later when she delivered a Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup double, on both Honeysuckle and A Plus Tard, respectively, and as such making her the first female jockey to win the ‘Blue Riband’ of steeplechasing.

Blackmore has been consistent at the festival since, having won on the back of Envoi Allen (Ryanair Chase) in 2023 followed by an impressive ride on Captain Guinness in the Queen Mother Champion Chase last March.

Always Almost A Guaranteed Winner

Her impressive pedigree almost ensures that she is more than likely guaranteed at least one winner at the festival each year – her prolific strike rate says more than enough. Despite her 16 wins and impressive achievements, she has someway to go until she matches the great record set by (Ruby) Walsh with an astonishing 59 between 2004 and 2019, while he was also crowned the Champion Jockey on 11 occasions between 2004 and 2017.

It seems almost fitting that the year Walsh retired, Blackmore won her first Cheltenham Festival race, especially considering that she then went on to win the iconic ‘Ruby Walsh Trophy’. Although it seems very unlikely Blackmore can match Walsh for wins (or indeed, whether anyone can), the 35-year-old is a very credible pick for future festivals.

Aged nine, Captain Guiness will be a very credible pick for next year’s Cheltenham Festival, though it will depend which race he’s entered into. However, Blackmore has shown she is impressively capable of steering horses to back-to-back Cheltenham wins and this could well be a great shout next March.

The combination of trainer Henry De Bromhead and Blackmore also seems to work very well together and has certainly reaped the rewards over the years – just like Walsh with Paul Nicholls and it is certainly worth keeping an eye on any other up-and-coming horses that may emerge from the De Bromhead yard over the next couple of years.