New wave of female riders out to follow in Rachael Blackmore's footsteps

With the likes of Cheltenham Foxhunter fourth Staker Wallace and former champion point-to-pointer Kruzhlinin in the line-up, a quality open contest understandably grabbed the headlines at last Sunday's card at Mainstown, but the meeting was also notable for being the first ladies' race of the new season.

Traditionally, the bulk of the ladies' open races have been programmed for the second half of the spring campaign, which last season was wiped out by the Covid-19-enforced shutdown of racing.

Before Sunday’s race at the Kilmoganny fixture, there had been just three ladies' open races between the flags in the preceding 18 months, an unfortunate consequence of the timing of the pandemic striking.