Horse Racing
18-time Cheltenham Festival-winning jockey Rachael Blackmore announces retirement
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Get to know Joe Lyons betterPublished19 May 2025
Former Cheltenham Festival top jockey Rachael Blackmore has announced her retirement from the saddle 14 years on from riding her first winner.
Blackmore, 35, enjoyed a decorated career in the sport as a pioneer for female riders in National Hunt horse racing, tallying 18 wins at the Cheltenham Festival.
In 2021 she also won the Grand National, becoming the first female jockey to win the race in its 182-year history aboard Minella Times at Aintree.
WATCH: Rachael Blackmore wins the 2021 Grand National on Minella Times
That same year she also made history becoming the first woman to be top jockey at Cheltenham, recording six victories across the four days.
Among her 18 Cheltenham wins include two Champion Hurdles on Honeysuckle, a Gold Cup on A Plus Tard, a Champion Chase on Captain Guinness and a Stayers’ Hurdle on Bob Olinger only this year.
Bob Olinger’s 2025 Cheltenham Festival win for Blackmore also completed her clean-sweep in the four major races at the meeting – the Champion Chase, Champion Hurdle, Stayers’ Hurdle and Gold Cup.
— Rachael Blackmore (@rachaelblackmor) May 12, 2025
Rachael Blackmore’s Biggest Wins
- Champion Hurdle (Honeysuckle 2021), (Honeysuckle 2022)
- Grand National (Minella Times 2021)
- Irish Champion Hurdle (Honeysuckle 2020), (Honeysuckle 2021), (Honeysuckle 2022)
- Cheltenham Gold Cup (A Plus Tard 2022)
- Champion Chase (Captain Guinness 2024)
- Stayers Hurdle (Bob Olinger 2025)
WATCH: All of Rachael Blackmore’s six wins at the 2021 Cheltenham Festival
Blackmore was named RTE’s Sports Person of the Year and BBC’s World Sport Star of the Year in 2021, pushing jumps racing to a global audience with her success.
She said: “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.”
Speculation surrounding the Tipperary-born rider’s retirement suggests she is ready to start a family with partner and fellow jockey Brian Hayes.
Blackmore thanked John ‘Shark’ Hanlon for giving her a first big break in the sport and gave special credit to Henry de Bromhead, with whom she formed a memorable partnership over the years.
Every Rachael Blackmore Cheltenham Festival Win (18)
- Cheltenham Gold Cup – (1) – A Plus Tard (2022)
- Queen Mother Champion Chase – (1) – Captain Guinness (2024)
- Stayers’ Hurdle – (1) – Bob Olinger (2025)
- Supreme Novices’ Hurdle – (1) – Slade Steel (2024)
- Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle – (1) – Bob Olinger (2021)
- Champion Bumper – (1) – Sir Gerhard (2021)
- Champion Hurdle – (2) – Honeysuckle (2021, 2022)
- Centenary Novices’ Handicap Chase – (1) – A Plus Tard (2019)
- David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle – (2) – Honeysuckle (2020, 2023)
- Dawn Run Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle – (2) – Telmesomethinggirl (2021), Air Of Entitlement (2025)
- Golden Miller Novices’ Chase – (1) – Bob Olinger (2022)
- Ryanair Chase – (2) – Allaho (2021),[15] Envoi Allen (2023)
- Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle – (1) – Minella Indo (2019)
- Triumph Hurdle – (1) – Quilixios (2021)