Rachael Blackmore is an Irish jockey who, in 2021, became the first female rider to win the Grand National (in the 182-year history of the race) on Minella Times. In 2022, she followed that up by becoming the first woman to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
As we approach the 2022 Grand National, Rachael’s mother, Eimir has written “A letter to my daughter” and recorded it as a voice over for a video put together by The Jockey Club, which owns Aintree Racecourse and stages the Randox Grand National. In it she pays tribute to Blackmore’s resilience, determination and humility and reveals her own phone “nearly melted” after her daughter’s groundbreaking success at the Cheltenham Festival in 2021.
Rachael and Minella Times hope to reprise their victory this weekend in the Grand National. Fingers crossed that they get around safe and even better, win a second time.
