The Tipperary native enjoyed a ground-breaking 16-year career, including memorable wins at the Aintree Grand National in 2021 on Minella Times and in the Cheltenham Gold Cup on A Plus Tard in 2022.
“Rachael Blackmore is unique,” Walsh told RTÉ’s Game On.
“We keep saying the first but she is the only woman to have won a Grand National, a Gold Cup, a Champion Hurdle, a Stayers’ Hurdle, a Champion Chase. The only woman to be leading rider at the Cheltenham Festival.
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“She did what all top sports people do. She made very few mistakes and that’s the difference. She was very cool under pressure, calculated under pressure and just didn’t get it wrong. Rachael was able to make fewer mistakes and that’s what made her so good.”
Walsh highlighted Blackmore’s resilience as one of her outstanding qualities, noting how she recovered from injury to triumph in the Stayers’ Hurdle with Bob Olinger earlier this year, completing the set of winning the four major Cheltenham races.
“Being a National Hunt jockey is not an easy life,” Walsh continued.
“It’s a tough sport and Rachael was unique. Men and women do get to compete on a level playing field but it’s the physicality: the falling, the thumps off the ground, the speed of the impacts and being able to pick yourself up.
“Rachael Blackmore was able to fall and get up quicker than most men, and that’s what made her different. She was like an elastic band.
So resilient, so tough. Whilst she broke the glass ceiling and proved women can do it, I don’t know how many there are like Rachael.
“To win a Grand National is incredible but to watch her come back from a pretty horrific hip injury… and then this year she proved more to me about herself than any of those victories.
“She got a fall in Killarney she described as a neck injury but when a National Hunt jockey walks around for three months in a neck brace you can be damn sure there’s something broken.
“Being a jockey, you play for pay, if you’re out there’s no salary. She worked herself back into the position that was hers and came back to Cheltenham this year and won.
“With all she had achieved, she still had to start again and she did and got herself back to the very top. To take that dent in confidence and get back to where you were, I admire that.”
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Ruby Walsh: 'Whilst she broke the glass ceiling, I don’t know how many there are like Rachael'
RUBY WALSH HAS paid a glowing tribute to Rachael Blackmore, who called time on her glittering career as a jockey today.
The Tipperary native enjoyed a ground-breaking 16-year career, including memorable wins at the Aintree Grand National in 2021 on Minella Times and in the Cheltenham Gold Cup on A Plus Tard in 2022.
“Rachael Blackmore is unique,” Walsh told RTÉ’s Game On.
“We keep saying the first but she is the only woman to have won a Grand National, a Gold Cup, a Champion Hurdle, a Stayers’ Hurdle, a Champion Chase. The only woman to be leading rider at the Cheltenham Festival.
“She did what all top sports people do. She made very few mistakes and that’s the difference. She was very cool under pressure, calculated under pressure and just didn’t get it wrong. Rachael was able to make fewer mistakes and that’s what made her so good.”
Walsh highlighted Blackmore’s resilience as one of her outstanding qualities, noting how she recovered from injury to triumph in the Stayers’ Hurdle with Bob Olinger earlier this year, completing the set of winning the four major Cheltenham races.
“Being a National Hunt jockey is not an easy life,” Walsh continued.
“It’s a tough sport and Rachael was unique. Men and women do get to compete on a level playing field but it’s the physicality: the falling, the thumps off the ground, the speed of the impacts and being able to pick yourself up.
“Rachael Blackmore was able to fall and get up quicker than most men, and that’s what made her different. She was like an elastic band.
“To win a Grand National is incredible but to watch her come back from a pretty horrific hip injury… and then this year she proved more to me about herself than any of those victories.
“She got a fall in Killarney she described as a neck injury but when a National Hunt jockey walks around for three months in a neck brace you can be damn sure there’s something broken.
“Being a jockey, you play for pay, if you’re out there’s no salary. She worked herself back into the position that was hers and came back to Cheltenham this year and won.
“With all she had achieved, she still had to start again and she did and got herself back to the very top. To take that dent in confidence and get back to where you were, I admire that.”
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Horse Racing Icon Rachael Blackmore Ruby Walsh