21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
Rachael Blackmore observation made as jockey makes retirement admission
The praise continues to come for Rachael Blackmore following her decision to retire from the saddle. The jockey announced last week that she was stepping down as a jockey with immediate effect.
She expanded on her decision in an interview with Betfair on Tuesday, admitting she first had thoughts of retiring at the Cheltenham Festival in March. Blackmore was a true trailblazer, winning the Grand National, Cheltenham Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle among a host of other historic firsts.
'When I was leaving the weighing room at Cheltenham on Friday this year, for the first time I just had a little thought in my head: 'Will I be back here next season?',' she told Betfair.
'It was the first time that thought had ever crept into my head. I didn't know.
'Part of me thought I would be back, part of me thought I wouldn't .
'I just said to myself leave it until June and get to the jockeys' break. I'd think about it all then.'
Blackmore's last winner aboard Ma Belle Etoile at Cork in early May and confirmed her decision, with the jockey announcing her retirement the following day.
'I was going to Cork the other day and I thought: 'If this one wins then maybe that's the time to call it',' she said.
'She won and, the following morning, I fully decided that was it.'
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The Tipperary native does not have an immediate plan for the next step in her career, and will adapt to a different lifestyle before considering what to turn her hand to.
'Even though retiring was probably a feeling inside me that I had kind of dampened down, it wasn't part of a massive plan to retire that Saturday, there is nothing set up but I am very lucky that I can take a few weeks and decide what might be next,' she said.
'It will be a very different life to the one I had previously."
People have been taking to social media in their droves to pay tribute to Blackmore, who has been hailed as a class act both on and off the track.
One person wrote: "Rachael Blackmore top class in and out of the saddle, incredible career."
Sanctuary Runners Ireland said: "We salute the amazing Rachael Blackmore this week as she announces her retirement. A class act on the track and off it - she supported a campaign we ran with @UNHCRIreland back in 2020."
Legendary trainer Aidan O'Brien said Blackmore was a "legend in her own lifetime".
Former jockey Katie Walsh stated: "She had a great way of reading races, she was strong both physically and mentally and would line up there with the best of them every day of the week and she was just an inspiration as a human being, she was just absolutely brilliant."
