Latest news with #Honeysuckle
RTÉ News
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Rachael Blackmore: It wasn't a massive plan, it just felt like the right time
Just a week after announcing her retirement as a jockey, Rachael Blackmore says it wasn't part of a "massive plan" and that the timing just "felt right." The Tipperary rider announced her retirement last week after a glittering 16-year career, in which she became the first female jockey to win the Aintree Grand National in 2021 and the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2022 - won aboard Minella Times and A Plus Tard respectively. Blackmore rode a total of 18 winners at Cheltenham over the course of her career and also became the first woman to be leading jockey at the festival in 2022. Reflecting in the wake of her retirement and the tributes which followed, Blackmore spoke to Ruby Walsh and Damien O'Meara on RTÉ 2fm's Game On, admitting she was "blown away" by the response to the news. "It wasn't a massive plan. I never knew how that day would come. But it did come," Blackmore said of her decision to retire. "It just felt right in that moment. It felt like the right time. "I'm so blown away by the response. Obviously, I knew it would be a news story in some shape. The amount of coverage in the newspapers. The amount of articles. "The amount of people that have written to me and rang me and sent me messages. People that you might pass and you know them but you don't have their numbers. But they've gone out of their way to get my number and send me a message. I'm just so blown away by that." Asked to cite her most memorable victory, Blackmore first plumped for her final win aboard Honeysuckle in the 2023 Mares' Hurdle at Cheltenham, though acknowledged that few things in racing could top the joy of a Grand National victory. "I think coming back into the winners' enclosure on Honeysuckle on her last race was a phenomenal feeling. "Even visually, I hope I'll never forget what it looked like. It was just black with people. There was no space anywhere. "It was different. It didn't feel like it was just about me riding a winner. It wasn't about that. It was about loads of other things. It was a very special moment. "I don't know would I love to live it again because it was sad as well. But it was a standout moment. "Obviously, winning the Grand National was just phenomenal. You just don't feel joy like that instantaneously when you cross the line. I've never felt such a kick of joy straight away. "You ride winners in Cheltenham and you feel relief because there's pressure and so on. But the Grand National is just joy straight away. "I was very lucky when I got linked up with Henry DeBromhead. He had a serious yard of horses. "It just elevated my career to a whole new level. You need to get the bounce of the ball essentially and I feel like I got that. "There's so many good riders in the weighing room and there's only a certain amount of races in a day. There can only be seven jockeys or whatever ride a winner in a day. You have to be getting on the right horses to achieve these things." On her future plans, the 35-year old said she was taking her time before deciding what to pursue next but stressed that she felt lucky to be retiring on her own terms. "I wish I knew. I never thought about what I'd do when I'd finish. Because I felt so lucky to be in the position I was. I just wanted to focus on what I was doing. I'm very lucky that I can take a few weeks and try and figure everything out. "I'm so lucky I got to finish when I wanted to. Physically I'm fine. I could go out and ride in the morning if I wanted to. My body is good. "I've had my injuries, I've had my breaks. But I had very good people looking after me. I'm well patched up now. "I was very lucky throughout my career in that sense. I didn't come off too badly on the injury side of it. Every jockey has their falls and I got my share of them. But they could always have been a lot worse."
France 24
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- France 24
Blackmore's history-making exploits inspiring to all: de Bromhead
Blackmore caught people -- including de Bromhead -- by surprise announcing she was retiring with immediate effect on Monday. The 35-year-old Irish sporting star would be best known to a global audience having become the first woman jockey to win the world's greatest steeplechase, the Grand National, in 2021 on Minella Times. She also retires as the only woman jockey to have won all four of the Cheltenham Festival's major races. She won two Champion Hurdles -- on the race mare she adored Honeysuckle (2021/22) -- the 2022 Cheltenham Gold Cup on A Plus Tard and the Queen Mother Champion Chase on Captain Guinness in 2024. She completed the sweep with victory in this year's Stayers Hurdle on Bob Ollinger. For good measure Blackmore -- who turned professional in 2015 -- became in 2021 the first woman jockey to be crowned leading jockey at the festival with six winners, she rode 18 in all. Blackmore, whose mother Eimir said she knew she was blessed with an adventurous spirit as even as a baby she climbed out of her cot regularly, always played down being a woman jockey. De Bromhead agreed that her achievements were an inspiration to all and sundry. "I do not think she likes to focus on that (being a woman)," he told AFP by phone. "She has definitely inspired a lot of people to follow their dreams. "That grit and determination can help you realise them whether you are male or female." De Bromhead said it was hard to quantify what they had achieved together since he brought her on board on a permanent basis in the 2018/19 campaign. "Even if you read it now or watch replays it is pinch yourself stuff. "When we both set out we never thought we would achieve all that. "It is incredible," said de Bromhead before adding with his trademark humility she was the rider, he was the front man as the trainer but there was a "massive team, a lot of cogs behind it (the success)." 'All the attributes' For de Bromhead the most memorable moment in their extraordinary journey together was not the Grand National -- though he said her ride was "amazing" on Minella Times "she could see round corners that day" -- nor the marquee races at Cheltenham. It was Honeysuckle's emotion-packed farewell win in the 2023 Mares' Hurdle at the Festival. It came months after de Bromhead's 13-year-old son Jack died as a result of a fall from a horse. "Honeysuckle's win that day both for personal and professional reasons," he said. "It was massive for me and massive for her (Blackmore)." De Bromhead, 52, said the reason he took her on was because he liked "her profile, she had come up the hard way and showed her determination," that despite not enjoying immediate success she "had not stopped riding". He said Blackmore, who was known for riding out and then going to help her farmer father milk 100 cows, brought a lot to the table in the partnership. "Her work ethic stood out and her attention to detail," he said. "She had natural ability, plus humility as she knew what it took to get to the top. "She was also a really good reader of a race, she was fitter and stronger than anyone else, she had all the attributes." De Bromhead says he does not know her reasons for bowing out but "she would have thought everything through" and whilst it must have been tough as she "loved the game" she is going out "at the top." Some trainer/jockey relationships can be fraught and end on a sour note but not this one. "She is a lovely lady," said de Bromhead.
Irish Daily Mirror
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
Taxi journey changed Rachael Blackmore's life forever
Rachael Blackmore retires as a jockey having achieved things many riders could only dream of. Since riding her first Cheltenham Festival winner in 2019, she went on to record 18 victories at the famous meeting and completed a clean sweep of the feature races after winning the Stayers' Hurdle on Bob Olinger this year. She also won the Gold Cup on A Plus Tard in 2022, the Champion Hurdle on Honeysuckle in both 2021 and 2022 and the Champion Chase on Captain Guinness in 2024. But her finest moment in the saddle came at Aintree in April 2021 when she partnered Minella Times to victory in the Grand National, becoming the first female to win the race. All of those victories came for trainer Henry de Bromhead, who started using Blackmore as a jockey after a conversation in a taxi on the way to Aintree with Eddie O'Leary, the brother of Michael O'Leary, who manages the Ryanair boss' Gigginstown operation. The Waterford handler told Morning Ireland on RTE Radio 1: "It was at a time when we had no stable jockey. We were just using the best available and Eddie suggested trying Rachael. She'd ridden a good bit for them. "She'd had one or two rides for me, but she'd ridden a good bit for Gigginstown. And she'd just been champion conditional. And yeah, I said, sure, give it a go. "I really liked her profile and obviously I've seen her riding all these winners. So yeah, there was no sort of fixed job or anything. "She just started riding for us and she just kept winning. Everyone wanted her after that and just went from strength to strength from there. "I don't think either of us ever thought we'd have achieved what we did together. We've had some amazing times, but even more than just (racing) she's so much more to us, me and my family than a jockey. It's a jockey-trainer relationship. "She's an amazing person and just delighted to see her going out on her terms." De Bromhead also reflected on a hugely emotional victory at Cheltenham in 2023 as Honeysuckle laned the Mares' Hurdle to win at the Festival for the fourth year in a row. The victory came just months after the death of the trainer's son Jack, 13. "That was a big day for all of us, including her," said De Bromhead. "A lot of pressure. It was the mare's last run. Obviously personally and professionally, it had been a really tough time and it was amazing how she pulled it off with Honeysuckle. It's a day that will stand out in my memory forever." Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email.
Daily Mirror
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Rachael Blackmore's career earnings, jockey boyfriend, reason for retirement
Rachael Blackmore has called time on a stellar career in the saddle, with Mirror Sport shedding light on the horse racing icon's decision and her "normal" relationship with her jockey boyfriend Trailblazing jockey Rachael Blackmore stunned the racing world by announcing her retirement on Monday. The 35-year-old jumps rider broke the news with a lengthy statement on social media, which stated her 'days of being a jockey have come to an end'. Blackmore made history by becoming the first female jockey to ride a winner in the Grand National in 2021, which helped her claim the BBC World Sports Personality of the Year award. Blackmore, from County Tipperary, Ireland, then became the first female rider to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2022 on A Plus Tard, while also twice winning the Champion Hurdle on Honeysuckle. She completed the set of the Cheltenham Festival 's feature prizes in March by clinching the Stayers' Hurdle on Bob Olinger, taking her total Festival haul of wins to 18. The latest season saw her suffer a neck injury which kept her out of action from September to Christmas, though she still ended the campaign with 32 wins in Ireland. In the current season, Blackmore registered just a single victory from four mounts, but managed to win on her last ride aboard Ma Belle Etoile at Cork on Saturday. And as we say goodbye to a horse racing icon, Mirror Sport brings you all you need to know about her career earnings, romantic life and the reason behind her retirement. What are Rachael Blackmore's career earnings? Blackmore, as of March 2025, had raked in approximately £9million in prize money at Cheltenham and beyond, according to At The Races. As per the PJA, jockeys receive around ten per cent of the win prize. A large chunk of her winnings have been earned in her native Ireland, £6m to be exact, where she won a trio of Irish Champion Hurdles from 2021 to 2023 on the aforementioned heroine Honeysuckle. Blackmore rode A Plus Tard to £350,000 in prize money when taking Friday's blue riband in 2022, and her latest haul came just 12 months ago when Captain Guinness achieved Champion Chase glory, taking home £225k in the process. Who is Rachael Blackmore's partner? Blackmore is in a long-term relationship with Brian Hayes, who is also a jockey. In 2021, Rachael opened up about how she shares lodgings with Hayes and another jockey, Patrick Mullins, in Leighlinbridge, Carlow, due to its close proximity to the big tracks in Ireland. County Cork-born Hayes star rode his first festival winner in 2023 when lifting Impervious to the Mares' Chase. And while some would assume that their relationship is dominated by horse racing talk, Rachael revealed that the reality is very different. She said: "We don't talk about racing half as much as people think. It's just a normal house when we come home." Hayes, while having picked up plenty of rides for Emmet Mullins over the years, is now one of many who often finds himself on the back of reigning British champion trainer Willie Mullins ' animals. The couple even had to put their romance to one side at this year's Cheltenham Festival as they squared off against each other. Hayes first appeared in the Michael O'Sullivan Supreme Novices' Hurdle on Closutton outsider Funiculi Funicula, while Blackmore rode De Bromhead's seven-year-old Workahead. The pair met again later in the day with Hayes on another horse saddled by Mullins: six-year-old mare Gala Marceau, in the Mares' Hurdle, in which Blackmore rode July Flower. She revealed that the pair also share the same lodgings when they travel to Gloucestershire together: "We [Blackmore, Hayes, and fellow jockey Patrick Mullins] stay together in Cheltenham every year. "We get a house. We usually go, and come over on Sunday night. So we're there on Monday to ride out, and that's a lovely day because you can kind of get settled in and walk the track - get your racing bag down to the weigh room and just get ready for the week ahead. We have a house very close so it's very convenient." Why is Rachael Blackmore retiring? Blackmore's only explanation as to why she has decided to retire came in her statement, where she wrote: "I feel the time is right,' before saying: 'I'm sad but l'm also incredibly grateful for what my life has been for the past 16 years. I just feel so lucky, to have been legged up on the horses I have, and to have experienced success I never even dreamt could be possible." Blackmore admitted she was slightly anxious about what the future holds after a long career as a jockey, having ridden her first winner as an amateur in 2011 and quickly progressed into becoming of her homeland's premier riders. She added: "It is daunting, not being able to say that I am a jockey anymore... who even am I now! But I feel so incredibly lucky to have had the career l've had. To have been in the right place at the right time with the right people, and to have gotten on the right horses - because it doesn't matter how good you are without them. They have given me the best days of my life and to them I am most grateful." Blackmore went on to thank all the people who have helped her on her journey, saying: "Firstly, my parents who provided me with the best childhood, and a pony I couldn't hold! This set the seed for a life of racing. Aidan Kennedy gave me my first ride in a point to point. I spent time riding out for Arthur Moore and Pat Doyle which I loved. Sam Curling and Liam Lennon were also big supporters as was Denise O' Shea, John Nicholson, Ellmarie Holden, Harry Smyth and Gigginstown House Stud. "I rode my first winner for Shark Hanlon, who then helped me become Champion Conditional. I will be forever grateful to Shark for getting behind me, supporting me and believing in me when it would have been just as easy to look elsewhere. He was the catalyst for what was to come."
RTÉ News
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Henry de Bromhead on Rachael Blackmore: 'She'll be amazing at whatever she does'
Trainer Henry de Bromhead has revealed the role a conversation in the back of a taxi played in Rachael Blackmore becoming his most trusted ally, with the pair's fortunes rising in tandem to achieve stratospheric levels of success. On Monday, Blackmore announced her retirement from the saddle at the age of 35 after a remarkable career. The Tipperary woman's feats have often been framed in the context of female jockeys, with Blackmore becoming the first of her sex to win the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in 2021 on board Honeysuckle, a meeting where she was also crowned leading rider, and going on to claim the Grand National weeks later on Minella Times in an annus mirabilis. Blackmore's success on Bob Olinger in this season's Stayers' Hurdle saw her complete a Cheltenham Festival grand slam of championship races, joining Ruby Walsh and Barry Geraghty as the only jockeys to have booted him the winners of the Champion Hurdle, the Champion Chase, the Stayers' Hurdle and the Gold Cup during their illustrious careers. Her 18th and final Festival success on Bob Olinger (above) also elevated her to joint-ninth, alongside Richard Dunwoody, in the all-time winners record at the meeting. Reflecting on the news of Blackmore's retirement from his Knockeen base in County Waterford, De Bromhead told listeners of Tuesday's Morning Ireland on RTÉ: "It was a bit of a surprise yesterday when she came in and said it to me. "I know it wasn't an easy decision for her, but I'm delighted for her. She seems really happy about it. "As is the norm with Rachael, her timing is incredible. It's probably when everyone least expected it. "It's the end of one chapter of her life and she's got so much more to do, but I've no doubt she'll be amazing at whatever she does." In the nascent stages of her career, there was little to suggest the success Blackmore would go on to enjoy. In the past, the rider herself has been self-effacing on her early efforts in the saddle, with her first winner under Rules coming at the comparatively late age of 21 on the Shark Hanlon-trained Stowaway Pearl at Thurles in 2011. However, the association with Hanlon (above) gave Blackmore the literal and figurative leg up that was to prove the catalyst in her career, even if her success story was to prove far from an overnight one. With the backing and encouragement of Hanlon, Blackmore turned professional on St Patrick's Day in 2015. It had been 25 years since a female rider had featured in the paid ranks in Ireland, with Maria Cullen the last woman to ride as a pro. The move followed a barren spell where Blackmore hadn't ridden a winner in six months and her first success as a professional didn't arrive until Most Honourable prevailed at Clonmel in September of that year. However, her career finally exploded into life during the 2016-17 season and she was crowned champion conditional rider at the age of 27 after booting home 32 winners. Blackmore rode her first winner in the maroon and white silks of Gigginstown House Stud in 2017 and Eddie O'Leary of the organisation extolled her virtues as he shared a taxi with De Bromhead to Aintree's Grand National meeting in 2018. "We had no stable jockey and we were just using the best available, and Eddie suggested trying Rachael. She'd ridden a good bit for them," De Bromhead explained. "She had one or two rides for me, but she'd ridden a good bit for Gigginstown and she'd just been champion conditional and said we'd give it a go – I really liked her profile and obviously had seen her riding all these winners. "There was no fixed job or anything. She just started riding for us and she just kept winning. Everyone wanted her after that and it went from strength to strength from there. "I don't think either of us ever thought that we'd achieve what we did together. "We've had some amazing times, but she's so much more to us – me and my family – than a jockey. "She is an amazing person and I'm delighted to see her go out on her terms." The trainer tragically lost his 13-year-old son, Jack, in a pony racing accident in September 2022. Six months later, Honeysuckle's (above) illustrious career came to a fairytale conclusion at Prestbury Park as the two-time Champion Hurdle winner bowed out with an emotional success in the Mares' Hurdle. "That was a big day for all of us, including her," De Bromhead admitted. "There was a lot of pressure and it was the mare's last run. "Personally and professionally it had been a really tough time, and it was amazing how she pulled it off with Honeysuckle.
