Rachael Blackmore embracing new Cheltenham role

Rachael Blackmore is fully embracing her role as Head of Ladies Day at Cheltenham Racecourse as the track prepares for the return of the traditional Wednesday feature at the Festival.

Blackmore saw her name in lights on multiple occasions at National Hunt racing’s biggest and most prestigious meeting, riding 18 winners including victory aboard A Plus Tard in the pinnacle of the season, the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

After a groundbreaking career that also saw her become the first female jockey to win the Grand National, Blackmore quietly announced her retirement last May. But Cheltenham has clearly never strayed far from her thoughts, and in November she began a new role.

Cheltenham Racecourse had previously shelved the idea of a specified Ladies Day, which is a racing tradition most courses partake in, but having analysed data on the gender of ticket purchasers the concept has been revived and actively promoted for the first time 2018, with Blackmore, who recently announced she is expecting her first child, at the helm.

“It’s going to be drastically different, I’m definitely not going to be able to do the weight this time!” she said of the prospect of attending Cheltenham under new circumstances.

“Ladies Day is very much going to be back with a bang. There are lots of new initiatives for the Wednesday, the whole of the Centaur building has been turned into a Ladies Day hub and there will a lot of different entertainment before, after and in between races.

“Cheltenham identified that there was an issue, only 25 per cent of ticket purchasers were female so they knew they need to do something to bring back that buzz.

“A lot of women love getting dressed up, and there are over £10,000 worth of prizes available as well. It is a massive meeting, the pinnacle of our sport, and for a lot of women the Ladies Day element and the racing all ties together – it’s an occasion for everyone to feel at home.”

To promote Ladies Day Blackmore has spent time with members of the public at shopping centres in Cardiff, Oxford and Birmingham, and has found the response to the rekindled Ladies Day to be incredibly positive.

“I’ve absolutely loved it and it’s been very insightful to get out and meet people,” she said.

“When we were out promoting Ladies Day I was amazed by the amount of people who said ‘I’ve always wanted to go, it’s always been on my bucket list’ and perhaps because we were out there talking to them they might get tickets this time.

“We had a really positive response from people, we had the Gold Cup trophy there and a wheel you could spin to try to win free tickets. It was a very fun atmosphere and hopefully it will be a success, we’ll see when the numbers come in for Wednesday ticket sales but I was very struck by the love there is out there for racing.”

Racing is uniquely placed to offer plenty of secondary entertainment outside of the action on the track, something Blackmore has encountered for the first time since hanging up her boots and an aspect that will form part of her role as Head of Ladies Day.

She said: “Cheltenham is very much about the racing, but I was at the November meeting and I had such a different experience to when I was riding. There is an incredible shopping village, which I never got to see, there is so much going on and to tie it in with top-tier sport is fantastic.

“On Ladies Day I am doing and Q&A with Rosie Tapner in the Centaur before racing, it will be really interesting for me to see what the Festival is like when you’re not in the weighing room.

“Hopefully there will be plenty to be learned from this year that can be brought into next year, things we can identify so that Ladies Day can grow year on year, rather than just be a success this time. If everyone has a good experience this year then it will have the knock on effect of being bigger and better next year.”

Several of the horses Blackmore guided to victory at previous Festivals are due to return to this year, though she is happy to watch on as another rider gets the leg up on the likes of Bob Olinger and Envoi Allen and is excited to take a different type of enjoyment from the fixture.

“I really miss racing and I really miss the horses especially, but every jockey has had to sit out through injury at some stage and watch other people ride their horses,” she said.

“It’s going to be very different for me watching on, but I’m so excited too. There’s always such a hype before the meeting and this year I can actually get involved with that without having to be mentally prepared for the riding.

“I’m very lucky that I had the career I had and that I had such success at Cheltenham. I have never walked in there and found that it doesn’t feel special, there is an energy about the place even when there’s nothing on. It is like nowhere else.”