LITTLE did we know what lay ahead for Rachael Blackmore after she left the North Kilkenny Foxhounds point-to-point at Ballyragget on March 15th 2015, having ridden Luska Lad to win the open for Shark Hanlon.

Flash forward almost five years to the day when on March 16th of this year the Killenaule native was steering Honeysuckle to a famous success in the Champion Hurdle at the start of an historic week in Cheltenham.

Five more victories followed which earned her the coveted leading jockey title at the festival before arguably her greatest achievement to date when conquering the Grand National aboard Minella Times.

While Blackmore has not ridden in a point-to-point since that day in Ballyragget over five and a half years ago, her impact on this sphere of the sport has arguably never been greater.

In the days and weeks after those momentous results in the spring, much was spoken of the impact that those achievements could have on the sport for those future generations growing up having watched on from the sidelines. No doubt much of those discussions focused on the more medium- to long-term impacts, however just eight months on and the first signs of this are already creeping through into point-to-point in the first instance.

Eighteen-year-old Caoimhe O’Brien, a sixth-year student from Dublin who rides out for Gavin Cromwell, is one of 16 riders to have registered their first point-to-point victories this season.

When asked how she came to take out her qualified riders’ licence, her response was indicative of the impact Blackmore’s achievements are already having.

“Once I got up to Gavin’s the boys there would say to me that my riding was really coming on and that I should go for my licence,” she said.

“We got a horse out of Gavin’s and my brother told me to take him pointing, but I was like, ‘no way am I going to take out my licence’.

Inspiration

“I was on the fence for a good while and had the forms sitting in my room since February, but then Cheltenham came around and seeing Rachael Blackmore being leading jockey and winning six races, I just knew that I wanted to do that. She was a real inspiration you could say.”

Kate Derwin is another first-time winner this season, partnering Ballycurrane Boy to success at Lingstown earlier this month, and she too has drawn on a similar inspiration.

“The one person that I would say inspired me to try and become a good female jockey would be Rachael Blackmore.

“I know that she doesn’t define herself as a female jockey or differentiate herself from the male jockeys, but seeing how hard she works, and her drive has really driven me to put my best foot forward and go with what I want to do,” said the Westmeath native.

“She was injured for a long time but she bounced back with a bang and she doesn’t come back half-hearted or half-fit, she would inspire any young person to go forward in the sport.”

Female riders

Derwin and O’Brien are just two of the six female riders to have registered their first ever pointing victories already this season and their initial successes in the sphere have brought the total number of female riders that have recorded at least one victory this season to 12.

This is a figure that is already double the season-ending total of six last season and seven a year earlier during the 2019/20 season.

The past two interrupted spring campaigns have disproportionately impacted the programme of ladies open races, and following such a positive autumn, it would be particularly disappointing if a number of such races was to take another hit this spring under the threat of a much-interrupted spring term with the ongoing insurance difficulties.

The achievements of Blackmore this year have rightly been recognised over the past week with a trio of high profile awards when she was crowned The Irish Times Sportswoman of the Year, RTÉ Sportsperson of the Year and BBC World Sport Star of the Year having already won the HRI Irish Racing Hero award.

Perhaps the greatest accolade of all that could be lavished on her is the impact that she will have for years to come inspiring many generations of young female riders to follow her into the sport, something already in motion.

Will points go back to running on racetracks?

DROMAHANE plays host to the opening fixture of the spring campaign on Thursday and this week’s entries for that Duhallow Foxhounds Kanturk fixture and the United Lisgoold meeting in Ballindenisk which follows three days later, certainly sets the tone as to what could follow over the coming months.

As the first raft of changes are made to the spring calendar covering those fixtures in the month of January that are without insurance, the picture for owners and handlers for the next five weeks is at least clearer.

An entry of 212 at Dromahane and 148 at Ballindenisk highlights the overflow of horses that remain in the system following a largely good-ground autumn campaign. Should the insurance impasse carry on into the coming months, large entries matching those at Dromahane and Ballindenisk are sure to become the norm.

Uncertainity

For owners and handlers the growing uncertainty is evident. The disruption to January has been minimised largely by Cork-Waterford fixtures accounting for the bulk of the month’s meetings. The same unfortunately cannot be said for many of the months that follow and contingency plans will now need to be on standby for the peak weeks of the season if this continues.

Racing on the inside track at racecourses such as Tipperary, Cork and Fairyhouse proved to be a saving grace for many earlier this year when circumstance necessitated the taking place there.

While they were run by hunt committees and not immediately obvious as the solution to create fixtures for hunts without insurance cover, it should be noted that ITM with the backing of the Irish EBF and the IHRB hold several barrier trials at Dundalk each year.

It may be worth exploring if a similar insurance arrangement can be found by those three organisations in conjunction with HRI to again run point-to-point fixtures on the inside of racecourses.