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Rachael Blackmore must have heard on the vine that the 2021 Cheltenham Festival was waiting for a heroine, and she answered the call with a game-changing effect.
“It’s huge for women in sports,” Ruby Walsh told RTÉ’s Game On as she reflected on a glorious four days.
“Every time Rachael Blackmore got on a horse this week, she was getting the same pay as all of her male jockeys. She had an equal chance of winning the races she was in and tactically it was the best of the whole week.
“What he has achieved is incredible.”
Without a doubt, the most important meeting of this year began at a very vulnerable turning point in public perception of the sport of racing.
It was in a potentially bleak context that Blackmore shone with historic triumph after historic triumph, surpassing the accomplishments of hundreds of riders of any gender by winning the Champion Hurdle, four more Grade Ones, and consequently the leading rider award, the first woman to approach any of the above.
He finished just second in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, as A Plus Tard was unable to manage to win back his Henry from Bromhead stablemate, Minella Indo, ridden by Jack Kennedy.
Their spectacularly successful encounter will, of course, define their career, although there will surely be many more glories ahead, but it is more than a personal triumph, because it has revolutionized the landscape of possibilities, especially for female jockeys, when it comes to a regular game. . riding the winners on the biggest stage at National Hunt.
Perhaps more than any of that, or certainly at least as significant, is that Blackmore’s exemplary timing has been evidenced not just in the thick of the action but in the big picture, at a time when racing needed it like never before. before.
Many still have doubts about the probity of celebrating the Cheltenham Festival with almost a quarter of a million visits 12 months ago, when the consequences were unknown at the beginning of a developing pandemic.
Those rumors may never fade, and yet potentially damaging as they have been to racing, a darker cloud hung over the sport in the weeks leading up to this year’s reunion as lovers and haters battled for the same to understand an image that first stretched universal credibility and then sensibilities.
After Gordon Elliott confirmed the authenticity of a photograph that circulated on social media of him sitting on a dead horse, the races were horrified and harassed by headlines questioning his own being.
When the county Meath coach began a one-year ban, the second six months suspended, the sport therefore began with its reputation at stake and its future well-being perhaps depending on a Festival to feel good.
In the absence of crowds and owners, due to coronavirus restrictions, it was not going to be an easy task.
But take a step forward Blackmore.
His absolute dominance came in association for the most part with De Bromhead, who eventually had to hand over the best meeting coach award to record-breaking Willie Mullins but shared the limelight throughout, as he marginally outperformed even to Blackmore by becoming the first to win. Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase and Gold Cup at the same Festival.
Blackmore fired his first major opening salvo when Honeysuckle posted a nearly seven length victory in Tuesday’s Unibet Champion Hurdle.
However, she was only getting started.
Then came two winners from Wednesday, De Bromhead’s Bob Olinger from the blocks in the starting Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle and Sir Gerhard completing the undercard in the Weatherbys Champion Bumper.
Blackmore’s three drops to the dirt in the middle simply reminded everyone how remarkable his accomplishments were becoming and how dangerous show jumping can be, regardless of the talent of the contestants.
Two more winners on Thursday included an impressive horse and rider performance as leader Allaho sacked his Grade One rivals on Ryanair Chase by 12 lengths and more.
By the time the Gold Cup rolled around mid-Friday afternoon, Blackmore already had the award for the best rider of the Festival surely safe, although Kennedy kept her waiting a little longer by tracing the score, thanks to Minella Indo.
Blackmore’s celebratory post-race interviews had begun to have a glorious groundhog feel, if such a thing is possible.
Yet she spoke eloquently and modestly at all times about how much she owed to those who had put her in a position to continue to win the best races at Cheltenham.
In truth, Blackmore was the gift he kept giving, and in 2021, racing could never have more reason to be thankful.
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