The past year has been a difficult one at times for Irish racing, with the sport making headlines for the wrong reasons on a number of occasions. We had the Gordon Elliott saga in March, the Oireachtas Committee hearings and Panorama investigation in July, followed by the Monasterevin raid in November.

However, 2021 ended on a brighter note as Rachael Blackmore collected a slew of awards for her achievements in the saddle this year. In the space of one week before Christmas, the 32-year-old from Killenaule in Co Tipperary received an Irish Racing Hero Award from Horse Racing Ireland, was named Sportswoman of the Year by The Irish Times, picked up the RTÉ Sportsperson of the Year Award and was voted – by the public – to be BBC’s World Sport Star of the Year.

Blackmore made history at the Cheltenham Festival in March when she became the first woman to win the Champion Hurdle and also the first woman to lift the leading rider award.

She then topped that at Aintree in April when she guided Minella Times to victory in the Grand National – making her the first woman to win the world’s greatest steeplechase. Up against Blackmore for the BBC award was an impressive field, including NFL superstar Tom Brady and boxing great Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez. The title was awarded by way of public vote.

Blackmore had flown over from Ireland to attend the ceremony in person but was delayed at Manchester airport. She told Gabby Logan and Clare Balding in the studio: “I made it as far as Manchester airport!”

On her achievements, Blackmore said: “I never even dreamt they could happen to be honest. It’s far surpassed anything I could have ever imagined. It’s just been an incredible year.

“The reaction has been brilliant, obviously for me personally they are such massive things to achieve but I think when you can bring a bit of joy to other people that makes it even more special.

“The reaction from everyone at home has been incredible and I feel very privileged to have had the year I’ve add.” She added: “The Grand National was incredible, I felt I was exactly where I wanted to be [in the race]. I visualised how I’d like things to work out and they seemed to just happen. You need a lot of things to fall into place for that to happen. It was just incredible.”

After being announced as the winner, she said: “The support has been incredible and I got such a kick out of being on that list of nominees.

“It’s kind of overwhelming. It’s unbelievable.”