Retired Rachael Blackmore lifts the lid on her summer from skipping Galway Races to seeing Oasis & Wimbledon
The trailblazing jockey took everyone by surprise when
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The 36-year-old won on her last outing in Cork
Credit: PA
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She was among the celeb guests at Croke Park as she roared on her native Tipperary in the All-Ireland hurling final
Credit: Sportsfile
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July also saw her take in a day out at Wimbledon
Credit: @blackmorerachael
Clearly, her schedule is far more flexible than it was over her years of relentless ride bookings throughout the arduous racing calendar.
The most evident example of that is that she's not even in Ballybrit this week despite
Instead, she popped up in
In it she underlined: "Retirement's going well. I'm enjoying it so far and I'm doing a lot of things I probably haven't been able to do for the last few years.
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"This week is definitely very different as I'm not heading to Ballybrit. The Oasis tickets have been purchased and I'm seeing them next month.
"I'm doing all those things you have to say no to as a jockey, like all those invites to friends' barbecues and other things. There's pluses to retirement too."
The chat then took a more reflective tone as she was quizzed on whether she's now at the stage in her life that her place in the history books has fully sank in.
She acknowledged: "It's incredible to look now at everything and really take it all in.
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"There's so many moments that were such joy and elation. Having my first winner on A Plus Tard at Cheltenham was just phenomenal.
"Henry De Bromhead put lots of faith in me and it was a good job I delivered because he was a Gold Cup winner in waiting.
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"Honeysuckle's last win (in the Mares' Hurdle) was sensational. It was something I'll never, ever forget. It was phenomenal.
"The moment of crossing the line in the Grand National I felt I could burst with joy too. There were so many moments and I was so lucky."
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The discussion then jumped ahead to her future plans with the Tipperary native yet make any definitive public utterances about what she plans to do next.
She added: "It was a difficult decision (to retire), but I wanted it to be a hard decision. I thought after Cork that if my aim wasn't to get back to Cheltenham, then maybe it was time to stop.
"When I was riding I never wanted to spend any time thinking about what I wanted to do when I finished. I'll do that over the summer and figure it out."
Among her standout achievements was becoming the first female jockey
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Likewise, she was the first woman to ride a winner at the Cheltenham Gold Cup with her also
Since retiring she
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