'Unfortunately, there is still a bit of a stigma' - but is the tide turning for female jump jockeys?

We need to talk about Rachael.

The current jumps season has laid bare a hole in racing that Rachael Blackmore had filled for so long. Across Britain and Ireland, not a single female rider currently sits in the top 30 of either championship.

Blackmore was not just the sport’s much adored public face; she represented another key front on which jump racing could reframe the battleground for wider social approval. A sport in which women compete against – and beat – men on equal terms at the very top level has obvious appeal in the 21st-century sporting landscape. Jump racing has not just lost a superstar; it has lost its shining example of how it would like to be perceived.