{"id":389964,"date":"2026-04-09T14:31:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T14:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/389964\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T14:31:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T14:31:13","slug":"rachael-blackmore-receives-huge-honour-ahead-of-babys-birth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/389964\/","title":{"rendered":"Rachael Blackmore receives huge honour ahead of baby&#8217;s birth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What a year 2026 is shaping up to be for retired jockey, Rachael Blackmore! <\/p>\n<p>After kicking things off by <a href=\"https:\/\/evoke.ie\/2026\/02\/07\/entertainment\/celebrity\/rachael-blackmore-wedding-photos\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/evoke.ie\/2026\/02\/07\/entertainment\/celebrity\/rachael-blackmore-wedding-photos\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">saying I Do to her long-time love<\/a> Brian Hayes and announcing they&#8217;re expecting, Rachael has now received a huge honour at Aintree Races.<\/p>\n<p>The history-making sportswoman, who was the first woman to win the Grand National in 2021, has been inducted as a Grand National Legend at Aintree, as she should!<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/SEI292529245.jpg\" alt=\"Former jockey Rachael Blackmore opens Blackmore's Bar, a new alcohol-free facility on day one of the Randox Grand National Festival 2026 at Aintree Racecourse. Pic: David Davies for The Jockey Club\/PA Wire\" class=\"wp-image-2130027\"  \/>Rachael Blackmore opens Blackmore&#8217;s Bar, a new alcohol-free facility on day one of the Randox Grand National Festival 2026 at Aintree Racecourse. Pic: David Davies for The Jockey Club\/PA Wire<\/p>\n<p>Rachael was inducted during a special ceremony on Thursday, April 9, on the 2026 opening day of the famous festival.<\/p>\n<p>The Tipperary woman follows in the footsteps of legends such as Red Rum, Tiger Roll, and Aldaniti, as well as Ginger McCain, Jenny Pitman, and JP McManus.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/SEI288806928.jpg\" alt=\"Former jockey Rachael Blackmore on day one of the 2026 Cheltenham Festival at Cheltenham Racecourse. Pic: David Davies for The Jockey Club\/PA Wire.\" class=\"wp-image-2118972\"  \/>Former jockey Rachael Blackmore on day one of the 2026 Cheltenham Festival at Cheltenham Racecourse. <br \/>Pic: David Davies for The Jockey Club\/PA Wire.<\/p>\n<p>Rachael was honoured with a commemorative plaque outside a newly renamed venue, Blackmore&#8217;s Bar.<\/p>\n<p>This will be an alcohol-free space created with local schoolchildren and artists. Blackmore\u2019s Bar will serve coffee, pastries and soft drinks. Sounds like a great day out!<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1_brianrachaelPNG.jpg\" alt=\"Pic: Rachael Blackmore\/Instagram\" class=\"wp-image-2097762\"  \/>Pic: Rachael Blackmore\/Instagram<\/p>\n<p>Rachael&#8217;s Aintree visit comes after she was <a href=\"https:\/\/evoke.ie\/2026\/03\/10\/entertainment\/rachel-blackmore-baby-bump\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">spotted at the Cheltenham Festival<\/a> on March 10, just ten months after <a href=\"https:\/\/evoke.ie\/2025\/05\/12\/entertainment\/rachael-blackmore-retirement\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">hanging up her saddle for good<\/a> in May 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The 37-year-old wrapped up warm in the cold weather, wearing a baby blue coat, and we&#8217;re left wondering if the shade is a hint at her baby&#8217;s gender&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The whole giving birth thing I haven&#8217;t given an overly massive thought to yet, I think I should probably start doing that in a month or two!,&#8217; she said recently.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/SEI243847323.jpg\" alt=\"Rachael Blackmore on day four of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival at Cheltenham Racecourse. Pic: Mike Egerton\/PA Wire\" class=\"wp-image-1959655\"  \/>Rachael Blackmore on day four of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival at Cheltenham Racecourse. Pic: Mike Egerton\/PA Wire<\/p>\n<p>Rachael <a href=\"https:\/\/extra.ie\/2026\/02\/12\/entertainment\/rachael-blackmore-pregnant\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">didn&#8217;t exactly blurt the news of her pregnancy out<\/a>; it was eagle-eyed fans who were quick to realise what the former jockey was trying to tell them. <\/p>\n<p>The jockey shared a shot on social media with a box containing a buggy in the boot of her car.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Boot contents looking a little bit different now,&#8217; Rachael simply wrote alongside a picture of her car, a Volvo XC60.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What a year 2026 is shaping up to be for retired jockey, Rachael Blackmore! After kicking things off&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-389964","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}