The winning jockey had tough choice between two fine horses, but got it right by staying loyal to A Plus TardThey say it’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind but such is Rachael Blackmore’s quiet determination to be known first and foremost as just a jockey, rather than a female one, that it ought to have come as no surprise that she stuck to her guns and elected to ride A Plus Tard in this year’s Gold Cup despite being beaten into second place on him 12 months ago.While the novelty value of Blackmore’s gender in a massively male dominated, often brutal profession has gradually dissipated to the point where it barely merits a mention, it is worth noting...
Victory in the blue riband of chasing at the Cheltenham Festival would complete a full house of jump racing’s premier prizesMinella Indo and Rachael Blackmore go back a long way at Cheltenham. Three years ago almost to the day, he was her breakthrough Grade One winner, an unconsidered 50-1 shot in what turned out to be one of the strongest novice hurdles of recent years. Allaho and Lisnagar Oscar, in third and fifth, were Grade One winners themselves at future Festivals, and Blackmore too soon moved on to even better things.His Festival form figures are 1-2-1. He loves the track and thrives in the spring. And yet, for the second year running, when Minella Indo goes to post for the...
The selection put up the best performance of her career to the blue riband of hurdling at last year’s Cheltenham FestivalHoneysuckle delivered the best performance of her career to win last year’s Champion Hurdle and there is no reason to suspect any of the also-rans 12 months ago can narrow the gap this time.Appreciate It and Teahupoo, by contrast, are fresh opponents for Honeysuckle with considerable scope for improvement. The time of Teahupoo’s recent Grade Three win at Gowran Park suggests the form is stronger than it might have looked. Continue reading...