Historic in the gallop. Rachael Blackmore, riding Honeysuckle, won the Group 1 Champion Hurdle Challenge Trophy in gallop in England, reserved for horses aged four and over. Never in the history of the English obstacle course had a woman ever reached the finish line even in the top three.
We are in Cheltenham, a beautiful town of around 100,000 inhabitants in the English county of Gloucestershire, a two-hour drive from London. Today was the first day of racing of a historic gallop meeting, with some of the best thoroughbreds in the world on the track.
In the Champion Hurdle Challenge Trophy, Honeysuckle, coached by Henry de Bromhead, was among the favorites, at an altitude of 11 against 10, and had to contend with the expected Epatante and Goshen. Rachael Blackmorre was very cold and did not miss a move, triumphing with six and a half lengths of margin over Sharjah and Epatante, the bay’s eleventh consecutive success born on April 28, 2014 and still unbeaten.
“Absolutely incredible – said the 31 year old Irish rider Rachael Blackmore after the historic feat -. I am speechless, really. Now I am in history. It is a privilege for me to be here, but the victory is not only mine but of all those who they work with me in the stable. Incredible, I just won the Champion Hurdle “.
Too bad that spectators were unable to participate in the historic enterprise due to the prohibitions imposed by Covid. But Honeysuckle and her mind-blowing rider received an enthusiastic welcome upon their return to the desoldering rod.
The company, which will remain in the annals of world horse racing, rewards a woman and recalls two other historic first times for women. In 2015 the Australian rider Michelle Payne against all odds won the famous Melbourne Cup on the Prince of Penzance, the most famous gallop race in Australia, second only to Ascot in the Anglo-Saxon world and the Arc de Triomphe in France.
In the 155-year history of the race, a success had never happened that a woman was imposed, to the disbelief of the more than 100,000 spectators present. And the Prince of Penzance horse had been bought for only 50,000 Australian dollars (about 33,000 euros) and in that race it was quoted at 100 to 1 by the bookmakers.
Another unprecedented female horse racing feat was in 1995 the victory of mare Ina Scott in the Prix d’Amerique of trotting on the black track of Vincennes, a suburb of Paris. In fact, in sulky there was Helen Johansson, the first driver in history to conquer the famous French trotting race, considered the world championship of long reins.