Cheltenham Gold Cup: Winning jockey Rachael Blackmore revels in her ‘rockstar’ status after victory on A Plus Tard

Her history-making win upstaged Ireland’s champion trainer Willie Mullins who saddled five winners on the final day of the Cheltenham Festival – and 10 in total at the meeting. All seven races on the final day went to Irish-trained horses as the Emerald Isle beat Britain by 18-10 wins in the Prestbury Cup.

But the dominance of Mullins – his dual Gold Cup winner Al Boum Photo was only good enough to finish sixth – was eclipsed by Blackmore.

And the adulation that she received from a raucous 70,000-plus crowd was in complete contrast to 12 months ago when the NH Festival went ahead behind closed doors due to Covid – and Blackmore rued her tactics when the Henry de Bromhead-trained A Plus Tard was defeated by stablemate Minella Indo.

“To have that roar back and to get to walk back in when you can’t see space and you can just see bodies is just incredible,” said Blackmore.

“It is the closest thing to feeling like a rockstar you will ever feel without being able to sing. It is just incredible to have people back and I feel very, very lucky.

“I just knew coming down to the last this year that I had more horse underneath me and that is a great feeling but you still have to get over the last.

“When I landed I gave him a squeeze and he picked up and I knew I was going to gallop all the way to the line but you don’t truly believe it until you cross the line. It takes about 10 strides after the line before you realise it but it is incredible and I’m very lucky to be getting to ride these kind of horses.”

She added: “When I took out my licence, I didn’t think I would be riding at Cheltenham, let alone a favourite in the Gold Cup.

“I’m so lucky to be getting the chance to ride horses in these kinds of races.

“This is the Gold Cup, you know what I mean?

“What I’m doing now is a dream I could never allow myself to have because it was not even in my reality. You can never dream too big because this is something I never thought would be possible.”

Next for Blackmore will be her attempt next month to defend the Randox Grand National with Minella Times – and she’ll do so as a Gold Cup-winning jockey.