'A magical place to be' - Blackmore treasures the view after returning to Festival summit
WOMAN OF THE PEOPLE: Rachael Blackmore riding Bob Olinger return after winning The Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle during Day Three of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival at Cheltenham Racecourse at on March 13, 2025 in Cheltenham, England. (Photo by Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images)
Rachael Blackmore holds a special place in the hearts of the Cheltenham faithful, and she received one of the most joyous receptions of the week on return to the winner’s enclosure following the Grade Two Ryanair Mares’ Novice Hurdle, the opening race on Thursday’s card.
Fittingly, for one who has been such a star for the sport of horse racing, it got better just a few hours later when she completed the full set of open Grade One success at the Festival by taking the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle aboard the remarkable Bob Olinger.
Both trained by Henry de Bromhead and both carrying the colours of Brian Acheson’s Robcour, it elevated a day which was attended by a crowd of 53,366.
Bob Olinger, despite advancing years, was quite well supported at big prices, and when he travelled up to challenge favourite and fellow Robcour horse Teahupoo going to the last, the writing was all but on the wall.
Blackmore, riding the crest of a wave following the earlier victory of Air Of Entitlement, had coaxed him into contention, and got a great response when push came to shove.
“It’s a magical place to be up here,” she said. “It’s an incredible feeling. I read an interview recently with JP McManus and he said, ‘Some people are born luckier than others,’ and I definitely feel I was born luckier for going around here.”
Of Bob Olinger, the horse who gave her that brilliant victory in the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle, a most fortunate one in the Turners Novices’ Chase, and won a Grade Two at a non-Festival meeting to maintain his perfect record here, she said: “He was brilliant. He has so much speed and was able to use it there today. We went a good gallop, and he was still able to pick up off the back of it.
“He’s unbeaten around here. I know one day it was a fortuitous win, but he’s got luck on his side around here. He’s a very, very good horse. We were very hopeful coming here, but for him to do it is just fantastic. He’s a phenomenal horse.
“Davy Roche, Henry’s head man and assistant, does an incredible job with him. He’s been involved with him since the day he arrived in the yard. It’s brilliant for everyone back in Knockeen - they all do an incredible job with the horses and it’s great to come home with this one now.”
At odds of 16-1, Air Of Entitlement would not have been the first choice of many in the day’s opener, but for that, the first leg of her 152-1 double, Blackmore was greeted as though she had just ridden the gambled-on odds-on favourite to victory in a Champion Hurdle.
“I’ve been so lucky with the horses I’ve got to ride, and she’s just another one,” she said. “Henry brings his horses over here in such incredible form. They all come over here and run above themselves, and she was just phenomenal.
“I want to dedicate this to my cousin, Robert Blackmore, who passed away at the weekend. His funeral is today, so I want to dedicate this to him.”
For the de Bromhead team, the past couple of months have been quieter than usual but, year on year, the Knockeen trainer manages to bring his charges to a peak for this meeting, and Blackmore retained the belief that this week would be no different.
“It’s hard not to have faith in his horses over here, and it’s brilliant that one of them got to deliver. We’ve been a bit spoilt the last few years, on the Tuesday, getting to walk home with a winner under my belt. It wasn’t the case this year, but I’m so grateful to get one today.”
Blackmore was grateful to be at the meeting as she suffered a serious injury in September at Downpatrick, one which sidelined her for quite some time. Since her return, in December, shortly after which the stable runners seemed to be under a cloud, it has taken time for the winners to start rolling.
“I missed three months before Christmas and Cheltenham is the main thing to be back for,” she added. “It was so difficult to watch all these horses I should have been riding. I was grateful my injury didn’t happen at the other side of Christmas, and I made it back for Cheltenham because this is the most important place for us all as jockeys.
“And Henry just does such an incredible job with them. When he brings them over here for Cheltenham, they all run above themselves and I’m very lucky to be on some of their backs.”
Now on the 18-winner mark for the Festival, Blackmore sits alongside the legendary Richard Dunwoody at number eight in the list of all-time leading riders in the history of the meeting.
