Rachael Blackmore retires and becomes Cheltenham ambassador as festival faces major absences

Rachael Blackmore, who retired from race-riding in May after 575 professional wins, will return to Prestbury Park in a new capacity as Head of Ladies Day for Cheltenham Racecourse and the Jockey Club, a move designed to support the reintroduction of Ladies Day on Wednesday 11 March at the 2026 Cheltenham Festival. The appointment pairs Blackmore’s sporting credentials with a targeted push to reverse falling attendance and a female turnout that the Jockey Club says averages only 25 percent at Cheltenham.

Blackmore’s retirement was announced at the end of the jumps season, with Express reporting she "shocked the racing world when she announced her retirement on May 12" after a season in which, Express writes, she "completed the full set of the Cheltenham Festival's championship events when Bob Olinger won the Stayers' Hurdle." Metro adds that her 575th winner came aboard Ma Belle Etoile at Cork and records that she rode in 4,566 professional races, while her Festival record includes 18 Cheltenham Festival wins and landmark firsts such as the Grand National on Minella Times and the Cheltenham Gold Cup on A Plus Tard.

Cheltenham Racecourse’s announcement sets Blackmore’s remit in stark terms: she will "work alongside the team at Cheltenham to identify potential barriers which might be putting women off going racing, while also seeking to engage new female audiences and those who have not attended racedays for some time," and will "support the reintroduction" of Ladies Day. The statement cited Jockey Club data that, on average, only a quarter of visitors to Cheltenham Racecourse are women, adding that many surveyed feel the sport is "not for them" and that "Many women... are often discouraged by the perception that racing is targeted at men."

Blackmore has described her own transition out of the saddle with candor. "I suppose, like overnight, your kind of purpose is gone," she told Metro. "If someone asks me that, I still don’t really know the answer, to be honest. I am so lucky that the career I had as a rider is still giving me opportunities now and is still giving me work now... Now I don’t have that same urgency about anything; things can be juggled, things can be moved." On the ambassadorial brief she added, "It is going to be a very different experience going racing and not heading for the weighing room, but I'm looking forward to seeing what racedays are like from the other side of the rails and working with the team at Cheltenham."

Operationally, Blackmore has already stepped into ambassadorial duties: IrishEcho reports she "started her new role at the Cheltenham’s November meeting last week" and will be "on-site at activations in Birmingham, Oxford and Cardiff" early next year. She told Liverpool Echo, "I’m interested in meeting racegoers to get a proper understanding of why they attend but also what some of the blockers and barriers might be that are stopping their friends and peers from coming," and told IrishEcho, "I’m excited to get involved and see what can be done to engage more women and show them what makes a day at the races such a special and unforgettable experience."

Cheltenham CEO Guy Lavender framed the appointment as data-driven. "We’ve been evaluating customer data and feedback and what really stood out was the opportunity to grow our female fanbase," he said, adding that the campaign was developed to encourage more women to attend race days and that "Rachael is exactly the kind of aspirational figure we hope will attract a new fan base to the sport." Lavender moved to Prestbury Park from Marlyebone Cricket Club in 2024, a leadership change that precedes the Festival reforms that also restored the Wednesday name from "Style Wednesday" back to Ladies Day.

Blackmore’s switch from one of jump racing’s most decorated jockeys to a public-facing recruitment role crystallises Cheltenham’s strategy heading into March 11: deploy a household name with 575 wins, 18 Festival victories and a string of firsts to try to arrest a steady decline in attendance driven by rising travel, accommodation and hospitality costs. Her effectiveness will be measured at the Festival itself, where the reintroduced Ladies Day will be both a cultural and commercial test of whether a star ambassador can broaden the sport’s audience.