Lifestyle

Rachael Blackmore will be targeting Gold Cup to add to her collection of big titles

Not much can faze Rachael Blackmore, but even she must have been pinching herself last spring. Six magnificent wins at the Cheltenham Festival made her the first woman to win the meeting’s top jockey award before a sensational performance in the Grand National added her name to the illustrious list of champions in Britain’s biggest horserace.

Those couple of months suddenly catapulted Blackmore into the wider sporting spotlight— creating a hero overnight. A jockey whose talents had before gone unappreciated was the talk of racing, with everyone wondering what was next for the Irishwoman.

Well, if there’s anything we can deduce from her character, Blackmore won’t be content with her lot. She’ll be doing everything to add to the success of last year, and with the Cheltenham Festival looming large on the horizon, there is one prize shining slightly brighter than the others.

That’s right, the Gold Cup eluded Blackmore last year, and her result in it was perhaps the one personal disappointment to take away from her Cheltenham campaign. She set off as one of the hot favourites on board A Plus Tard, who was tipped as trainer Henry de Bromhead’s best chance at landing the day four showpiece behind pre-race favourite and defending champion Al Boum Photo.

However, it was A Plus Tard’s stablemate Minella Indo who stole the headlines, pipping the favourites to the line to seal a sensational victory for De Bromhead and young jockey Jack Kennedy. As much as Blackmore was delighted for her colleague’s success, you can bet that inside she will have been seething that she failed to get her hands on the Gold Cup.

As the 2022 race approaches, it looks likely that Blackmore will be in the saddle of A Plus Tard once again, aiming to go one better than last year’s second-place finish. The eight-year-old currently leads the way in the horse racing betting odds from SkyBet ahead of the Gold Cup, and Blackmore will be desperate to guide him to victory.

There is an intense determination about Blackmore, and you can tell that she is eager to establish herself as the leading name in the sport. To do that, you have to win the biggest races on multiple occasions, and getting that first Gold Cup triumph ticked off her bucket list will only help in that endeavour.

There will also be an opportunity for Blackmore to claim a second successive victory in the Champion Hurdle, with Honeysuckle once again listed as the favourite to win it. The talented and undefeated mare produced a stunning display with Blackmore in the saddle last year, and the same is expected of the De Bromhead-trained horse this time around.

But it is the Gold Cup that Blackmore will be focusing on most. Until you’ve checked it off your list of achievements, all the leading jockeys feel an immense pressure to get their hands on the famous trophy and write their name in the history books. However many wins Blackmore records throughout the first days of the Cheltenham Festival, they will pale in comparison to the Gold Cup if she can right the wrongs of last year’s race.