Dubbed the Queen of Cheltenham, Rachael Blackmore will return to Prestbury Park as she takes up her new role as Head of Ladies day for the traditional Wednesday feature.
Blackmore’s stellar career as a jockey came to an end on May 2025 as she announced on X:
“My days of being a jockey have come to an end. I feel the time is right. I’m sad but I’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 success was synonymous with the Cheltenham Festival, where she had eighteen winners across a seven year period. She broke numerous records, becoming the female jockey to win the Champion Hurdle on Honeysuckle in 2021. The same year, she became the first female jockey to win the leading Cheltenham jockey after a remarkable four winners.
Blackmore continued to create history in 2021 when winning the Grand National on Minella Times. She became the first female jockey to win the Aintree spectacle where afterwards speaking to ITV, she famously said “I don’t feel male or female right now. I don’t even feel human…. It’s unbelievable.”
Blackmore then became the first female jockey to win the Gold Cup when riding A Plus Tard in 2022.
Blackmore embracing off-track role
Having taken up a new venture November, the former groundbreaking jockey is looking forward to her return to Cheltenham.
Speaking to Racing TV, Blackmore noted: “It’s going to be drastically different,
“I’m definitely not going to be able to do the weight this time!” She jests, having recently announced the expectancy of her first child.
“Ladies Day is very much going to be back with a bang. There are lots of new initiatives, the whole of the Centaur building has been turned into a Ladies Day hub. There will a lot of different entertainment before, after and in between races.
“Cheltenham identified that there was an issue. Only 25 per cent of ticket purchasers were female so they knew they need to do something to bring back that buzz.”
The racing world will be thrilled to welcome Rachael Blackmore back at the showpiece meeting of the Sport on the Wednesday. She will no doubt be looking on closely to the Queen Mother Champion Chase and Stayers’ Hurdle. Both races are set to feature horses she rode to victory in them: Captain Guinness and Bob Olinger.