Blackmore recovering after neck injury
Last Updated 17 Oct 2024 | By Enda McElhinney
TOPSHOT – First placed Jockey Rachael Blackmore rides Minella Times to win the Grand National Handicap Chase on Grand National Day of the Grand National Festival at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, north west England on April 10, 2021. (Photo by SCOTT HEPPELL / POOL / AFP)
Grand National-winning rider Rachel Blackmore is on the road to recovery after suffering a neck injury in a fall at Downpatrick last month.
The pioneering jockey injured her neck when her mount Hand Over Fist fell at the second last fence in a handicap chase at Downpatrick on September 20th.
The exact details of the extent of the problem were unclear but an Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board spokesman confirmed: “Following a fall at Downpatrick on Friday, September 20th, Rachael Blackmore has sustained a neck injury and will not ride in the coming weeks, while she undergoes rehabilitation for her injury.”
The 35-year-old, stable jockey to Henry De Bromhead, was riding for trainer Denis Howard when the incident occurred and, as yet, no planned return date has been mooted as the National Hunt season prepares to step up a gear with Cheltenham’s season opening meeting looming at the end of October.
Aintree royalty after Minella Times
Blackmore became the first female rider to win the Grand National when Minella Times scored for De Bromhead and owner JP McManus in 2021.
It was the 173rd running of the world’s most famous steeplechase and it made worldwide headlines when Blackmore wrote her own page in the history books.
The closest a female jockey had previously come to winning the race was Katie Walsh on Seabass in 2012 when she finished third.
There were no spectators at the Merseyside track in 2021 because of Covid-19 protocols as Blackmore led home a one-two for the De Bromhead team, with Balko Des Flos in second spot.
A month previously, also behind closed doors, the jockey had won the Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase and Gold Cup at Cheltenham, becoming the first female to be crowned leading rider at the Festival in the Cotswolds with six wins across four days.
Blackmore the torch bearer
The daughter of a dairy farmer and a school teacher from Killenaule, County Tipperary, Blackmore has become the trailblazer for women in racing.
She obtained a degree in equine science and combined her studies with competing as an amateur jockey before deciding to go pro.
She was just the second woman to hold a professional licence in Irish jump racing when switching from the amateur ranks in March 2015.
Teaming up with De Bromhead, who is based in Knockeen, County Waterford, they have become one of the most powerful alliances in jumps racing, with stars like Honeysuckle and Bob Olinger representing them on the grandest stages.
Blackmore was runner-up to Paul Townend in the Irish jockeys’ championship in 2020.
At the time of her injury she was tied at the top of the Irish jump jockeys’ championship with 23 winners alongside Keith Donoghue and Sam Ewing.
Back in March, she completed her set of National Hunt racing’s greatest prizes after Captain Guinness landed the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.
