Henry De Bromhead showed his humble nature as he directed praise towards Rachael Blackmore following her emphatic victories at Cheltenham on Thursday.
The 35-year-old etched her and De Bromhead’s names into the history books when she rode Bob Olinger (8/1) to victory in the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle, completing the set of Championship races for them both. Despite only kicking off her winning streak at the Festival six years ago on A Plus Tard, Blackmore now has 18 wins to her name – while also only standing as the only woman in history to have captured the Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle and Champion Chase.
And De Bromhead was quick to give the jockey her flowers following her win, saying “she is an incredible lady” in a glowing review. Via the Irish Mirror, he said: “I’m delighted for the horse, he’s an incredible horse, he had such a reputation a few years ago, things didn’t work out as well as we thought, but to see him come back and do that is amazing.
“Rachael gave him such a ride, she was brilliant on him. She is an incredible lady and I’m delighted for her as well. Bob Olinger’s form had tailed off significantly since his previous two Festival wins so much so that 12 months ago he went to Aintree instead of this meeting.
“To get him back and have him like that is incredible. He is just a class horse. I suppose you have to look at his record as he is unbeaten here. I remember I was at a preview a few weeks ago, and I wouldn’t look at the betting, but I was like ‘Oh my God’ he is 66-1 and I just couldn’t believe it.
“If he was 20-1 then fair enough, but Home By The Lee, who had beaten him, was just much shorter. It is brilliant and I’m delighted. The last few years we have always had Honeysuckle to get off the mark on the Tuesday so it was feeling a little bit lonely. They have all been running well and I’m delighted.
“He is such a dude and he likes the attention and he deserves every bit he gets. He comes alive here and he obviously just loves it here. He won the Ballymore then we had a couple of funny old years with him, but he is back now.”
The win came as a return to glory for 10-year-old Bob Olinger, who kicked off as a 33/1 outsider before falling to 8/1 in the hours prior to the race. Blackmore also won the Mares Novices Hurdle earlier in the day on Air Of Entitlement, capping off a remarkable double on the third day of the Festival.
Dedicating the two wins to her late cousin Robert Blackmore, who passed away this week, she said: “I’m very lucky to get on these horses. He was brilliant. He has so much speed and was able to use it there today. We went a good gallop and he was still able to pick up off the back of it.
“He’s unbeaten around here. I know one day it was a fortuitous win, but he’s got luck on his side around here. He’s a very, very good horse. We have had a quieter [first] two days. Walking home on Tuesday, I feel I’ve been spoiled the last couple of years getting to go home with a winner on the first day.
“Henry just does such an incredible job with them when he brings them over here for Cheltenham, they all run above themselves and I’m very lucky to be on some of their backs. We were very hopeful coming here, but for him to do it is just fantastic. He’s a phenomenal horse.”
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