When Rachael Blackmore won the Grand National on Minella Times on Saturday she secured her place in history as the first female winner.
The jockey has probably also secured a glittering financial future with the potential for sponsorship deals that could make her a millionaire.
Blackmore, 31, a farmer’s daughter from Killenaule, Tipperary, has been thrown into the spotlight after becoming top jockey at Cheltenham, then her 11-1 maiden ride at Aintree. Nigel Currie, a sports marketing consultant, said she was likely to earn seven-figure sums if she pursued sponsorship deals.
“She’s got massive potential because of the uniqueness [of a female jockey winning the Grand National], the taking on the men and beating them and the fact that there’s not a huge pool of high-profile female stars around at the moment,” he said.
“Everyone in racing knew about and talked about how fantastic she was but after Saturday the rest of the world knows. She’s broken through in a sport that has as wide a reach as is possible. There’s all sorts of things opening up now, there’ll be books, potential film deals, media work, appearances and things like that which will all add to her profile.”
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Bookmakers are offering odds of 10-1 on Blackmore appearing on Strictly Come Dancing on BBC 1 in the next three years. Blackmore was the 20th female to compete in the Grand National and the previous highest finish was by Katie Walsh, who came third on Seabass in 2012.
Blackmore, asked about her achievement, said in a television interview: “You are 100 per cent correct it is a big deal, I don’t know how to put that big deal into words myself.” She added: “The thing that hit me when I crossed the line was that I’d won the National, not that I’m the first female to win.”
Blackmore, a modest figure who lives with her boyfriend, the jockey Brian Hayes, and fellow jockey and housemate Patrick Mullins, grew up riding ponies in Ireland but her family had no background in racing.
She studied equine science while competing in amateur races and turned professional only six years ago.
She has ridden scores of winners, securing two top-three finishes in the Irish jockeys’ championship and serving as the stable jockey at the yard in Co Waterford run by the trainer Henry de Bromhead.
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She won six races at Cheltenham this year, but missed out on the Gold Cup after electing to ride the horse that finished second rather than the winner.
She has been hailed as an inspirational figure. The former jockey Lizzie Kelly wrote on Twitter: “As a little girl I sat on my pony and pretended to be AP McCoy. Little girls now can pretend to be Rachael Blackmore. Thank you Rachael from my ten-year-old self.”
