The comeback kid and Cheltenham's first lady - how Bob Olinger and Rachael Blackmore proved the perfect couple

The 2026 Racing Post Annual is out now and is the perfect gift for any racing fan. Order your copy at racingpost.com/shop or call 01933 304776. In this extract, Racing Post Annual editor Nick Pulford looks back on the Stayers' Hurdle . . .

Rachael Blackmore’s final fling at the Cheltenham Festival came with an old flame. No-one knew it at the time but it was fitting that her 18th and last win at jump racing’s biggest meeting was on Bob Olinger in the Stayers’ Hurdle. They had shared the festival love twice before, but their biggest triumph together was on a different level. A special ride led to a special moment.

For both Blackmore and trainer Henry de Bromhead, the Stayers’ Hurdle completed the full set of the festival’s marquee events. On the jockey’s side, it was a rare feat that not even the great Tony McCoy had achieved – it was the Stayers ’ Hurdle that never featured on his incredibly long list of wins. How Blackmore did it had the hallmark of class too.

The night before the race, Robbie Power – who does race planning for De Bromhead and owners Robcour – had told her that if she was upsides at the last, she had got there too soon. The Gold Cup-winning former jockey’s words were worth heeding. Even though Bob Olinger was travelling strongly from the home turn, Blackmore waited as long as she dared before unleashing him up the run-in. Their combined power was irresistible. 

Teahupoo, the 2024 winner and favourite again in the Robcour colours, was overtaken just after the last and swept away by a length and three-quarters.

Bob Olinger (right) leads home a Robcour one-two from Teahupoo in the Stayers' HurdleCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

“Rachael was class,” said De Bromhead. “She gets such a tune out of him. She asked him for two jumps and that’s it. She lets him pop away and he loves doing that. He just doesn’t need to be forced.”

There was no forcing, just a simple bond. Blackmore and Bob Olinger were in unison, each responding to the other’s wishes. The perfect couple.

'It's a big team effort'

Patience with Bob Olinger was a quality shared by the whole De Bromhead team at Knockeen in County Waterford. They had long waited for a return to the sort of form that made him an early festival star with his wins in what is now the Turners Novices’ Hurdle in 2021 and 12 months later in the now defunct Turners Novices’ Chase, albeit with a huge slice of good fortune on the second occasion when Galopin Des Champs fell at the last.

Now in its 15th year, the Racing Post Annual is firmly established as the perfect Christmas gift for any horseracing fan. With a glittering line-up of the year's best horses and races, this 208-page book is a must for every horseracing fan. Order your copy here or call 01933 304776.

As he was being prepared for his first run at the festival since then, the now ten-year-old had become a nearly horse at the top level, most notably when beaten a nose in a messy finish to the 2024 Aintree Hurdle. His last win had been in the Grade 2 Relkeel Hurdle at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day 2024, he had twice been beaten by Stayers’ Hurdle rival Home By The Lee in the current season and his stamina for the three-mile test was open to serious question.

Quietly, though, Bob Olinger was being brought back to top form after what De Bromhead described as “a couple of funny old years with him”. He spent important restorative time away from the yard with Power, and a key role back at Knockeen through the winter was played by assistant trainer Davy Roche.

Paying tribute after all the hard work paid off with a third festival win, De Bromhead said: “It’s a big team effort. I can’t say enough about Davy Roche, who adores him. He would literally have him in the house with him if he could. Robbie Power got him going, and then there’s all our team at home – the chiropractors, physios, vets. You name it, everyone’s involved in him.”

Henry de Bromhead punches the air after Bob Olinger's triumph in the Stayers' HurdleCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Armed with the knowledge that the teamwork was beginning to bear fruit, De Bromhead approached the festival with a growing sense that Bob Olinger was being undervalued. 

“I remember I was at a preview and I was like, ‘Oh my God, he’s 66-1’ and I just couldn’t believe it," he said. "If he’d been 20-1 then fair enough, but Home By The Lee, who had beaten him, was just much shorter.”

On raceday, De Bromhead was asked by Matt Chapman on ITV Racing about a gamble that had been building on Bob Olinger. From 20-1 overnight, he would be down to 8-1 at the off. 

“Is he being backed?” asked the trainer. “Really? I must admit I was surprised he was such a big price, so I’m pleased people are recognising him.”

Recognition like never before was just around the corner for Bob Olinger.   

'I didn't think he could do it'

De Bromhead and Blackmore had faced their own travails through the winter. The jockey spent three months on the sidelines with a serious neck injury and when she returned the Knockeen horses were badly out of form. She had two winners in Ireland in December, one in January and one in February. In the first two months of the year, De Bromhead sent out just six winners.

“We weren’t in form, but I think I had 12 of these, some of our best horses, trotting in the indoor school for the whole of January,” recalled De Bromhead. “So if you take them out of it, we don’t have the depth to keep going when you’ve got your best horses out of the game. Now, obviously we still weren’t in good form, but we were coming to ourselves.” 

Cheltenham is where De Bromhead and Blackmore hit top form so often, but it happened slowly this time. Their spring finally started to blossom in the first race on the Stayers’ card, when Air Of Entitlement took the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at 16-1. It was a last-gasp victory brilliantly executed by Blackmore. “You were amazing,” the winning trainer told her.    

Less than three hours later the plaudits were flowing again after another Blackmore masterclass in the Stayers’. Having avoided trouble at the sixth, when Crambo fell outside her and the badly hampered Home By The Lee unseated, she had Bob Olinger in a challenging position coming off the final bend, but bided her time at the back of a tight leading group. 

Bob Olinger (second right) surges up the hill in the Stayers' HurdleCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Teahupoo was the first to show up front in the Robcour colours as owner Brian Acheson watched the race unfold in his favour. The 7-4 favourite was his likely hero again and he wasn’t expecting a barnstorming finish from Bob Olinger. 

“I didn’t think he could do it,” he admitted. “I thought he would come to the bottom of the hill and stop, because he had never won over three miles.”

This time, driven on by Blackmore, the horse described by his owner as his “third child” refused to stop as he surged past Teahupoo for a Robcour one-two. Not only had Bob Olinger proved his stamina over the Stayers’ trip – “what a bloody place to do it for the first time,” exclaimed Acheson – but he had reaffirmed his love of the festival.

“He’s unbeaten here – one day it was a fortuitous win, but you need a bit of luck too, and he gets it here,” said Blackmore. “I could have easily run into the faller. We got lucky there, but you need that. He’s a phenomenal horse. We were very hopeful coming here, but for him to do it is fantastic.”

Power was full of praise for Blackmore’s ride. 

“She gave him a peach,” he said. “She gets on unbelievably well with Bob. They have a great association and she knows how to ride him masterfully. What can you say about her? She’s now won all the Cheltenham features, as well as the Grand National, and nobody rides this place like her.”

So many special days had come Blackmore’s way. Her last visit to the hallowed winner’s enclosure was right up there.
Additional reporting by Richard Forristal, Lee Mottershead and Jonathan Harding

Now in its 15th year, the Racing Post Annual is firmly established as the perfect Christmas gift for any horseracing fan. With a glittering line-up of the year's best horses and races, this 208-page book is a must for every horseracing fan. Order your copy here or call 01933 304776.