When did Rachael Blackmore ride her first winner at the Cheltenham Festival?

It would be fair to say Tipperary-born Rachael Blackmore enjoyed an ‘annus mirabilis’ in 2021. At the Cheltenham Festival in March, she made history by becoming the first female jockey to win the Champion Hurdle, on Honeysuckle, and capped a stellar week by becoming the first to win the leading jockey award. The following month, she achieved another notable first when partnering Minella Times to a 6½-length victory in the Grand National at Aintree. A fracture ankle and hip injury, sustained at in a fall at Killarney in July, took the shine off an otherwise remarkable year, but served as a timely reminder of the dangers National Hunt jockeys face every day.

Blackmore did not turn professional until 2015, but became Irish champion conditional jockey in 2016/17. She subsequently joined forces with Waterford trainer Henry de Bromhead and, thus, began a meteoric rise that would take her right to the top of her profession. She rode her first Cheltenham Festival winner, A Plus Tard, in the Close Brothers Novices’ Handicap in 2019 and her second, Minella Indo, in the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle three days later. Ironically, two years later, it was Minella Indo who prevented Blackmore from becoming the first female jockey to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup, staying on gamely to beat A Plus Tard by 1¼ lengths.

What are apprentice and conditional jockeys?

What are apprentice and conditional jockeys? Apprentice jockeys, in Flat racing, and conditional jockeys, in National Hunt racing, are jockeys aged between 16 and 25 years of age, who have ridden a limited number of winners. To compensate for their lack of experience, in some, but not all, races, they can claim a weight allowance when riding against fully licensed professionals.

The weight allowance is simply deducted from the weight allotted to the horse due to be ridden by the jockey in question; a horse allotted 9st 7lb, due to be ridden by an apprentice claiming 3lb, would actually carry 9st 4lb, and so on. The only proviso is that if the weight allowance takes the weight allotted below the minimum riding weight of the jockey, he or she is unable to claim the full allowance.

Apprentices with fewer than 95 winners can claim 3lb, thise with fewer than 40 winners can claim 5lb and those with fewer than 20 winners can claim 7lb. Similarly, conditional jockeys with fewer than 75 winners can claim 3lb, those with fewer than 40 winners can claim 5lb and those with fewer than 20 winners can claim 7lb. Additionally, conditional jockeys wih fewer than five winners can claim an extra 3lb, making 10lb in total, when riding for their own stable.

When is Gordon Elliott allowed to return to training?

In March, 2021, just a week before the start of the Cheltenham Festival, Co. Meath trainer Gordon Elliott was banned for a year – the last six months of which were suspended – by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) for bringing the sport into disrepute. The ban, which was reciprocated by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), followed an investigation into a photograph, widely circulated on social media, showing Elliott cheerfully sitting astride a dead horse. The horse in question was later revealed to be Morgan, a 7-year-old owned by Gigginstown House Stud, who died of a suspected heart attack on the gallops at Elliot’s Cullentra House Stables.

Elliott apologised, more than once, for what he described as an ‘indefensible moment of madness’ and accepted his punishment, which also included €15,000 in court costs, without appealing. Nevertheless, several high-profile owners, including Simon Munir, Isaac Souede and Cheveley Park Stud, removed their horses from the yard and severed all ties with Elliott. Elliott was allowed to return to training on September 9, 2021 and, at the time of writing, has already made his first entries ahead of his return to racing. Of the owners who left, Elliott said, ‘I still speak to them all and the gate is always open. I understand completely why they had to go.’

 

How many mares have won the Champion Hurdle?

The race now acknowledged as the two-mile hurdling championship, the Champion Hurdle, was established in 1927 and, in 91 runnings since, has been won on six occasions by six different mares. African Sister, ridden by Keith Piggott, father of Lester, was the first to strike a blow for the fairer sex, in the last Champion Hurdle to be run before the outbreak of World War II, in 1939.

However, it would be another 45 years before Dawn Run – who would later make history by becoming the only horse to complete the Champion Hurdle and Cheltenham Gold Cup double – carried Jonjo O’Neill to victory for Paddy Mullins, father of Willie, in 1984. A decade later, Flakey Dove, trained by Richard Price and ridden by Mark Dwyer, added her name to the roll of honour, but there was another lengthy hiatus before the arrival of the next winning mare.

Nevertheless, in 2016, Willie Mullins emulated his father by winning the Champion Hurdle with Annie Power and, in the style of ‘London buses’, her victory was quickly followed by those of Epatante in 2020 and Honeysuckle in 2021. Indeed, in recent years, the dominance of the likes of Epatante and Honeysuckle in the two-mile hurdling division has led some observers to call for the abolition of the 7lb weight-for-sex allowance that mares currently receive from their male counterparts in ‘championship’ races, such as the Champion Hurdle. Proponents of the move argue, with some justification, that the result of such races should be determined on merit alone, regardless of the sex of the participants.

 

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