Rachael Blackmore talks of child pleasure forward of Cheltenham and disappointment at now not driving

Cheltenham queen Rachael Blackmore has spoken of her baby joy for the first time to the Daily Star – but admitted not riding at the greatest show on turf could bring her to tears.

The trail-blazing super jockey – the first and only woman to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Aintree’s Grand National – will return to the horse fest this week for the first time since hanging up her stirrups last May.

Since then she’s married her long-term love and fellow jockey Brian Hayes, 37, and last month (feb) they announced they are expecting their first baby.

But even before she knew she was pregnant Rachael said she did not continue riding for pleasure because she misses the sport so much.

Rachael is about to return to the scene of her history-making as the four-day Cheltenham festival gets underway at the Prestbury Park racecourse later today.

But instead of heading to the weighing room one of the famous horse fest’s most successful ever jockeys will be on the other side of the rails – as the face of its returning Ladies’ Day.

Ahead of her return Rachael, 36, sat down with your favourite newspaper to tell us of her excitement at becoming a mum and her joy and trepidation at going back to the track where she notched up 18 big race winners.

She said: “I don’t think the whole day will be easy.

“I think there’s parts of it that will be difficult because I absolutely love riding. I love racing. I loved Cheltenham above anywhere else to ride a winner.

“I miss it.

“Being there and not riding it will be different.

“I won’t be walking into the weigh room. I won’t have the same routines for the day.

“But I am really privileged that the career I had has given me a role in Cheltenham now that I am retired.

“So it’s nice for me as a jockey to have a purpose to be there.

“My purpose was always being a jockey and that was incredible.

“But it is nice that I do have that purpose still to be there for Cheltenham racecourse in helping them on Ladies’ Day. I feel very lucky in that sense too.

“But I’m under no illusions.

“I don’t think I will be kicking back and loving every part of the day.

“It must be hard for the rugby lads when they go to their first game when they’re not playing or they’re not in the changing room with the other lads – all those kind of things.

“I think that’s the same for any athlete who finishes their sport.

“I did ride a little bit since retiring but I found it easier not to.

“It’s kind of difficult now when part of my heart still wants to be a jockey.

“I don’t think I’m a teary type. I will be quite surprised if it escalates that much. But who knows?”

Rachael stunned the racing world when she suddenly announced she was stepping down straight after riding Ma Belle Etoile to victory in a novice hurdle at Cork on May 10.

It brought the curtain down on a glorious 16-year career in which she notched up 575 wins two of which will remain forever enshrined in the history of racing.

In 2021 she steered Minella Times to victory in the Grand National becoming the first victorious woman jockey since the famous race began in 1839.

Just weeks earlier she had become the first woman to be crowned Cheltenham’s champion jockey after six wins in the festival’s four days.

Then in 2022 she became the first female to win the Gold Cup – romping home on A Plus Tard by 15 lengths.

She was named BBC World Sports Star of the Year and awarded an MBE.

But the modest star had plans away from the track – marrying her long-term sweetheart and starting a family.

The couple announced their big news in a typically understated way.

Rachael posted a picture of her car on Instagram showing a boxed pram in the boot.

She wrote: “Love driving the Volvo XC60 BA.

“Boot contents looking a little bit different now…”

Talking about the happy news for the first time she told the Daily Star it was still sinking in.

“Usually during the build-up to the Cheltenham Festival people are asking you what you’re riding and what you fancy?,” she said.

“But meeting new people when out promoting Ladies’ Day has led to a few ‘congratulations’ and ‘when are you due?’

“So that’s been a bit different this year.

“I never looked too far ahead when I was racing so I feel this is carrying through to now.

“I’ll get my head around it all with a few weeks to go hopefully.”

She said it will be the first time in 16 years she has been to Cheltenham without plotting how to ride a winner.

“I went when I was 20 with some of my friends,” she said.

“We were very much experiencing Cheltenham from a completely different way. We were going out at night. We were proper race-goers.

“At the time I had a jockey’s licence and I was trying to get going as a jockey.

“I was standing outside the parade ring. I was looking into the parade ring with the masses thinking, ‘God it would be so cool to ride at Cheltenham’.

“Little did I think I’d be walking back up the winner’s chute later in my career.

“It’s so far removed from that girl that was looking into the parade ring when I was 20 to what came along.

“Recently thankfully I’ve been always in the weigh room with winners as the only focus of the day.

“As a jockey it’s an indescribable feeling when you cross the line at Cheltenham and just feel that atmosphere. The people at Cheltenham make that atmosphere.

“It is our Olympics.

“Getting to ride a winner there is just the pinnacle of our sport. It’s such a magical feeling. I’m sad that I’m never going to experience that again. But I’m so grateful that I got to do it on loads of occasions.

“I feel so lucky that that was the case for me. It is just one of the best feelings.

“Walking down the chute and the whole crowd is there. It’s just incredible. You walk into the winners’ enclosure. It’s an amphitheatre. Everyone is looking down. It’s just a very very cool place.

“I think for the people that go they can feel that. They can feel what it means – owners, trainers, jockeys – to have a winner there.

“They are excited to see these horses – extremely incredible athletes that have been prepped for the Cheltenham festival. That’s been a lot of their main goals.

“It’s high competitive stuff. It’s top level sport. Who doesn’t love watching the best athletes compete?”