How Yorkshire stable lass Zoe Smalley proved invaluable to Rachael Blackmore’s historic Cheltenham Gold Cup win

She was the first to console with Blackmore when A Plus Tard was runner-up in last year’s blue riband race. She was alongside the rider after the mercurial mare Honeysuckle successfully defended the Champion Hurdle on a tide of emotion.

And, as travelling head lass to the Irish trainer Henry de Bromhead, Smalley was there when Blackmore and A Plus Tard galloped into the history books. She takes up the story: “The race before the Gold Cup, I’m leading Rachael back in on Shantreusse and someone in the crowd shouts out ‘Believe in yourself Rachael’.

“Rachael smiles and I turn to her and say ‘We believe in you’. I know Rachael Blackmore and I know she isn’t going to leave Cheltenham without the Gold Cup. The first thing I say is ‘I told you. It was never in doubt. We always believe in you’. She replies ‘Thanks girl, this is insane’.

“Rachel’s very normal. She’s very down to earth. Very grounded. She’s very nice and she makes time for everybody. She also appreciates that racing is a team sport.”

This testimonial could also apply to Doncaster-born Smalley who went to Ripon Grammar School as a boarder and whose life changed when she went to visit a friend who was working for a trainer in Middleham. By the end of the day, she knew horse racing would be her career. “I had always been in pony club and hunting but there’s no racing in my blood,” said Smalley.

To her credit, she completed her A-Levels, studied at the Royal Agricultural College and worked in Australia before stints at stables in North Yorkshire with, amongst others, Mark Johnston, James Bethell and the late Ferdy Murphy who was an inspiration.

And while, at one point, she combined her love of racing with running The Bay Horse pub in Ravensworth, pulling pints never had the same allure as mucking out and looking after some of the world’s best National Hunt horses.

She’d already fallen in love with Ireland following a trip to Galway’s racing festival in 2013 and she worked for Gavin Cromwell and Willie Mullins before teaming up with the aforementioned De Bromhead two years ago.

However, while the focus of attention remains on the unassuming Blackmore and the level-headed De Bromhead, it is the workaholic Smalley, 32, who is overseeing the formidable operation at racedays – and major festivals like Cheltenham and Aintree (she missed Blackmore’s landmark Grand National win on Minella Times last year due to Covid isolation).

“Cheltenham is a massive operation,” she tells The Yorkshire Post in an exclusive interview. “I start prepping for Cheltenham after Christmas. I start to buy tack and make sure we have enough colours for 30 horses or so.

“It’s a full blown military operation to make sure everything is where it needs to be – the feed and hay is sent over in advance or it would take up too much room. I’m effectively in charge of all things Team De Bromhead.”

This year’s Cheltenham Festival also tested Smalley’s calmness under pressure before the De Bromhead cavalry had even left their County Waterford stables, and where the Duchess of Cornwall was a VIP visitor on Thursday.

Despite countless checks of weather forecasts, an unexpected storm saw Irish Ferries cancel sailings before clearance was given for a nerve-wracking trip across the Irish Sea.

“I thought I might be killed before it was all sorted. I spent the whole time hoping Honeysuckle and the other horses are okay. They were absolutely fine – better than me – and I don’t think the crossing was as rough as we expected,” said Smalley. “It meant we got to Cheltenham at 5.30am on Sunday instead of 10pm the previous night. It’s a huge responsibility. To be fair, Honeysuckle is a very good traveller and she doesn’t make my job any harder than it already is.”

Yet, as well as overseeing a 30-strong team of stable staff looking after the De Bromhead runners and transporting horses between the Cotswolds and Emerald Isle, Smalley is acutely sensitive to the needs of champions like Honeysuckle.

When the mare wants an extra pick of grass off the lush racecourse turf, it was Smalley who looked after Kenny Alexander’s horse of a lifetime. “Honeysuckle is definitely in charge of all things Honeysuckle. She knows herself,” reports Smalley.

“It was a big sense of relief all round that she ran – and won – on the Tuesday. Unbeaten in 15 races, there’s so much pressure. Just before the Champion Hurdle I said to Henry ‘Thank God Honeysuckle runs on the Tuesday and not the Friday’. I said I wouldn’t be able to cope otherwise and he said ‘Me too’.”

Even though Smalley says the past week has been “madness” due to “Rachael Blackmore fever” after the superstar rider became the first female jockey to win the Gold Cup – and that the “poor girl cannot walk down the street without being mobbed” – it is also one of the toughest because the next Cheltenham Festival is still a full year away.

Yet she’s already planning for Aintree while studying for a degree in agricultural science at the Waterford Institute of Technology.

“I’m doing that as a back-up plan in case I ever fall out of love with my main job,” she explains.

“As it stands I love my job a lot. People say it is a very pressurised industry but I can’t see myself going anywhere soon. I can’t imagine anyone else taking Henry’s horses to Cheltenham and I don’t think he can either.

“Everyone in Yorkshire has been really supportive and excited about seeing me leading up recall. I’m a proud Yorkshire girl and I feel Yorkshire has been quite proud of me.”

And a superstar jockey called Rachael Blackmore.