RACHAEL BLACKMORE’S brilliant reaction to being asked about one of her Cheltenham Festival winners shows he is set for even bigger things this season.
The all-conquering Irish jockey absolutely decimated rivals on Bob Olinger in the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle last March.
Henry de Bromhead’s six-year-old trounced runner up Gaillard Du Mesnil by seven-and-a-half lengths to land the £53,000 winner’s prize.
Punters were raving about Paul Nicholls’ Bravemansgame’s scintillating debut over fences at Newton Abbot on Sunday.
But that horse, promising as he is, finished a whopping 12 lengths behind Bob Olinger in third.
De Bromhead, who also teamed up with Blackmore to win the Grand National on Minella Times, has been coy on the horse’s future, confirming only that he is going chasing.
But Blackmore let a bit more out the bag when talking to Oli Bell for Sporting Life.
Asked about what we can expect from the superstar six-year-old moving forward, Blackmore waxed lyrical about his prospects.
And for those watching it was clear to see the way from the way she purred over his future that big things are expected from the current 7-2 fav for the Marsh Novices’ Chase.
Blackmore swooned: “He is a very exciting horse for the future.
“There’s not many give you the feel that he would. I’m really looking forward to him.
“He won a point-to-point for Pat Doyle and jumping fences should be no problem to him.
“He’s done plenty of loose schooling in Henry’s ring so I’m looking forward to getting him going.
“He’s just got a different engine. They don’t all have the engine he has.
‘HE’S DIFFERENT’
“Hopefully he can show us throughout the season what he’s made of.”
Blackmore is yet to return to racing after being taken to hospital following a horror fall in July.
She needed surgery after fracturing her ankle and busting her hip.
But she appeared in good spirits ahead of her imminent return, admitting she’s still getting to grips with her newfound fame.
The Irish jockey, 32, said: “Things are obviously different.
“I was walking through the airport and someone stopped me for a picture. That’s something that obviously never happened before.
“Things are different but I feel extremely lucky.”
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