Queen of Racing Rachael is Tipperary Person of the Year
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At the announcement of the Tipperary Association Dublin Person of the Year award for 2021 are Rachael Blackmore (winner) with Liam Myles (Tipperary Association Dublin President).Image 2 of 2
Pictured at the announcement of the Tipperary Association Dublin Hall of Fame award for 2021, which was held in the Horse & Jockey Hotel, are, seated: Margaret Rossiter (joint winner), Liam Myles (Tipperary Association President), Len Gaynor (joint winner). Standing: Sinead Springer, Pat Ryan (Tipperary Association Secretary), John Ryan (former Hall of Fame winner), Michael Fenton (Tipperary Association PRO), John Rossiter jnr, John Rossiter snr. BRIDGET DELANEYThe Tipperary Association Dublin has announced that Killenaule National Hunt Jockey, Rachael Blackmore, is the association’s Tipperary Person of the Year for 2021. The Hall of Fame Award goes jointly to renowned senior hurler and coach, Len Gaynor and to award-winning journalist, historian and community activist, Margaret Rossiter of Clonmel.
The President of the Tipperary Association Dublin, Liam Myles, said that the Person of the Year award acknowledges exceptional success and achievement at local, county and national/international level in the particular field of the chosen person. To say that Rachael Blackmore more than met this criterion would almost be an understatement, such was her success in 2021. As a leading National Hunt jockey for many seasons, she has rewritten racing history on several occasions but in 2021 she reached a new pinnacle of greatness with her performances and winning ways on the racing tracks of Ireland and England.
Since turning professional in March 2015 she has carved out a very successful career for herself. In 2017, she became the first woman to win the conditional riders’ championship in Ireland. She rode her first Grand National at Aintree in 2018, while her first Cheltenham winner came in 2018. In 2019 she gained her first Grade 1 victory in Cheltenham on board Minella Indo and she had her first Irish Grade 1 win in Fairyhouse that year – on Honeysuckle. She had 90 winners in 2019 and was runner up in the Irish jump racing Champion Jockey competition behind Paul Townsend. Rachael was third in the same competition in the reduced season of 2019-2020.
However, Rachael Blackmore made 2021 her year as she blasted record after record and at the very highest level in her profession in partnership with trainer Henry de Bromhead. At the Cheltenham Racing Festival, Rachael became the first female jockey to both partner a winner in the Champion Hurdle and to win the Ruby Walsh Trophy for most wins with six.
More was to come when she rode Minella Times to victory in the 2021 Grand National, the first female jockey to do so.
Of course, she went on to have many more wins. But for an unfortunate fall which resulted in a broken hip and ankle, who knows how the year might have turned out for her? As it was, three months after her break she rode another Grade 1 winner showing tremendous courage, grit and determination and is finishing the year on a high.
The Tipperary Association Dublin is delighted and privileged to award her Tipperary Person of the Year for 2021.
The award is kindly sponsored by the Louis Fitzgerald of the Fitzgerald Group.