Blackmore's history-making exploits inspiring to all: de Bromhead
Blackmore caught people -- including de Bromhead -- by surprise announcing she was retiring with immediate effect on Monday.
The 35-year-old Irish sporting star would be best known to a global audience having become the first woman jockey to win the world's greatest steeplechase, the Grand National, in 2021 on Minella Times.
She also retires as the only woman jockey to have won all four of the Cheltenham Festival's major races.
She won two Champion Hurdles -- on the race mare she adored Honeysuckle (2021/22) -- the 2022 Cheltenham Gold Cup on A Plus Tard and the Queen Mother Champion Chase on Captain Guinness in 2024.
She completed the sweep with victory in this year's Stayers Hurdle on Bob Ollinger.
For good measure Blackmore -- who turned professional in 2015 -- became in 2021 the first woman jockey to be crowned leading jockey at the festival with six winners, she rode 18 in all.
Blackmore, whose mother Eimir said she knew she was blessed with an adventurous spirit as even as a baby she climbed out of her cot regularly, always played down being a woman jockey.
De Bromhead agreed that her achievements were an inspiration to all and sundry.
"I do not think she likes to focus on that (being a woman)," he told AFP by phone.
"She has definitely inspired a lot of people to follow their dreams.
"That grit and determination can help you realise them whether you are male or female."
De Bromhead said it was hard to quantify what they had achieved together since he brought her on board on a permanent basis in the 2018/19 campaign.
"Even if you read it now or watch replays it is pinch yourself stuff.
"When we both set out we never thought we would achieve all that.
"It is incredible," said de Bromhead before adding with his trademark humility she was the rider, he was the front man as the trainer but there was a "massive team, a lot of cogs behind it (the success)."
'All the attributes'
For de Bromhead the most memorable moment in their extraordinary journey together was not the Grand National -- though he said her ride was "amazing" on Minella Times "she could see round corners that day" -- nor the marquee races at Cheltenham.
It was Honeysuckle's emotion-packed farewell win in the 2023 Mares' Hurdle at the Festival.
It came months after de Bromhead's 13-year-old son Jack died as a result of a fall from a horse.
"Honeysuckle's win that day both for personal and professional reasons," he said.
"It was massive for me and massive for her (Blackmore)."
De Bromhead, 52, said the reason he took her on was because he liked "her profile, she had come up the hard way and showed her determination," that despite not enjoying immediate success she "had not stopped riding".
He said Blackmore, who was known for riding out and then going to help her farmer father milk 100 cows, brought a lot to the table in the partnership.
"Her work ethic stood out and her attention to detail," he said.
"She had natural ability, plus humility as she knew what it took to get to the top.
"She was also a really good reader of a race, she was fitter and stronger than anyone else, she had all the attributes."
De Bromhead says he does not know her reasons for bowing out but "she would have thought everything through" and whilst it must have been tough as she "loved the game" she is going out "at the top."
Some trainer/jockey relationships can be fraught and end on a sour note but not this one.
"She is a lovely lady," said de Bromhead.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
Vondrousova warms up for Wimbledon with Berlin title
The Czech, who won Wimbledon in 2023, was pushed hard by Wang, appearing in her first final, but eventually emerged the 7-6 (12/10), 4-6, 6-2 winner. This was Vondrousova's third success on the WTA tour and it proved she is hitting form at the right moment after a torrid time with injury with Wimbledon starting on Monday week. The 25-year-old, finalist at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has tumbled down the world rankings to 164 from sixth after months away from the court with a left shoulder injury for which she underwent surgery last year. This was her first title match since she defeated Ons Jabeur in straight sets at Wimbledon two years ago. Immediate reward for the win will come on Monday when she shoots up inside the top 100 to 73 in the latest WTA world order. © 2025 AFP
France 24
8 hours ago
- France 24
Japan's high-tech sunscreens tap into skincare craze
The huge number of people poring over Price's video shows the growing interest in skincare products from Japan, much like the K-beauty phenomenon from South Korea. It includes sun protection, increasingly recognised as a daily essential by influencers who want to shield their skin from ageing and enthuse about the lightweight texture of Japanese brands. Companies that have perfected their secret formulas want to capitalise on booming demand, including by building factories overseas and selling to Japan's record influx of foreign tourists. Price, 32, fell into a "year-long rabbit hole" while making her video, learning about everything from SPF science to cultural attitudes to sun exposure. "I always loved Japanese sunscreen, since I first moved to Japan in 2012," she told AFP at her studio in Tokyo. "I remember trying it for the first time and thinking, 'this is so much better than anything I tried in Australia'," her home country where sun cream felt "thick, sticky, greasy". "I thought that the video would be popular... but I wasn't expecting it to reach as far" as it did, Price said. The habit of regular sunscreen use is spreading, especially among younger generations, said Takuya Wada, who works in marketing for Japanese chemical and cosmetics firm Kao. "There are no borders when it comes to obtaining information on social media, especially Instagram and TikTok," he said, adding that influencer posts have a "very large" impact on global sunscreen sales. 'Beautifully white' The global skincare market was worth more than $115 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow to $194 billion by 2032, according to Fortune Business Insights. A boom in celebrity skincare brands has contributed to the industry's growth -- with A-listers like Kylie Jenner using social media to share their beauty routines, including sun protection, with hundreds of millions of followers. When it comes to sunscreen, country-specific regulations mean no single company dominates the field, as the entry barriers to new markets are higher. Kao's main sunscreen brand Biore UV is ranked 10th worldwide for sales, and second in Asia -- competing with the likes of L'Oreal and Beiersdorf, and Japanese rivals such as Shiseido. The company wants sales from sun protection to reach 35 billion yen ($240 million) in 2027, up 1.6 times from 2023. It plans to boost overseas production by opening three new sunscreen factories, in Indonesia, Brazil and Germany. It is technically difficult to develop formulas that block the rays effectively with a smooth texture, as demanded by Japanese consumers, said Takashi Fukui, research and development director for Kao skincare products. But using scientific know-how to strike this tricky balance is what makes Kao "different from other European or American makers". In Japan, a cultural obsession with light skin dates back to the sixth century and using white powder imported from China later became a status symbol among nobility. Fair skin indicated a life away from outdoor labour and sun exposure, and an old Japanese proverb says "white skin covers the seven flaws". In the 1990s, people began using sunscreen or other cosmetics to avoid tanning -- a trend dubbed "bihaku", or beautifully white. These days, Japanese women use sunscreen as everyday protection against sunspots and ageing, caused when UV rays penetrate into the skin, said Fukui. Winter sun Tans have long been fashionable in Western countries, but awareness of skin cancer risks is rising, making sunscreen an important healthcare product there, Fukui said. One fan of Japanese brands is Thai skincare influencer Suari Tasanakulpan, who calls them "lightweight" compared to "heavy and uncomfortable" Western offerings. "There are always new technologies and innovative textures that are often ahead of other countries," the 40-year-old, who reviews sunscreens on YouTube, told AFP. At an outlet of drugstore chain MatsukiyoCocokara in Tokyo's Shibuya district, around 90 sunscreen products are lined up on the shelves. "Sales of sunscreen is improving year on year," said Takeshi Otsuki, deputy manager of the chain's cosmetic division. "More people are using sunscreen on a daily basis these days, so their needs are becoming more diverse," he said. The number of male customers is also increasing, and Japanese sunscreens are very popular with overseas tourists who buy them in multipacks, Otsuki said. While summer is high season, sunscreen is popular year-round, because Japan has a "relatively high number of sunny days in the winter, and the sunlight hours are long". YouTuber Price now uses both Japanese and Australian sunscreen, depending on the occasion. She sees the rise in education about sunscreens worldwide as a win-win situation. It "means you're going to be better protected in general, which is great for everyone", she said.
France 24
11 hours ago
- France 24
Utopia and fragile democracy at Art Basel fair
The four-day event in the northern Swiss border city of Basel, which closes on Sunday, features more than 280 galleries presenting works by around 4,000 artists. The monumental works section features an 85-metre-long installation entitled "The Voyage -- A March To Utopia". Created by the studio of Dutch artist Joep van Lieshout, it features 80 large sculptures forming a procession of absurd objects, where "everybody walks in the same direction... on their way to a happy place", the artist told AFP. The journey begins with a team of oxen, followed by all means of getting to that better world, including a walking stick, a cart, a toilet on wheels, a wheelchair and a mobile surgical theatre for those struggling to keep up. Next come objects representing everything the convoy is carrying, followed by sculptures of ghosts symbolising those who didn't make it to the end. It ends with machines set to destroy the road behind them, so that "there's no going back", the artist explained. Flag of logs A stone's throw away, Spanish artist Jaume Plensa presents a work composed of 21 aluminium doors engraved with the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. Entitled "Forgotten Dreams", it invites viewers to contemplate collective aspirations and not forget the horrors of the past. Vietnam-born Danish artist Danh Vo has installed a huge US flag made from hundreds of logs and 13 steel stars, referencing the first version of the flag from 1777. Reconstructed at Art Basel, "In God We Trust" was first created in 2020, during the presidential election campaign between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The logs were removed one by one and burned in fireplaces, gradually causing the flag to disappear. The work serves as an allegory of the fragility of US democracy. Go-go dancers Art Basel is above all a commercial event, where artists and galleries come to meet wealthy collectors. But the fair is also very popular with art lovers who come for the simple pleasure of browsing the works on show. Its "Unlimited" section brings together monumental pieces intended for museums and major collections. It includes recent as well as older works, including a performance created in 1991 by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, a US artist from Cuba who died of AIDS in 1996. Called "'Untitled' (Go-Go Dancing Platform)", it features a man dressed in silver shorts dancing on a podium for a few minutes, twice a day. "It's an interesting moment to revisit it," said the "Unlimited" section's curator, Giovanni Carmine, recalling that the artist created the performance shortly after the death of his partner from AIDS, "in a context that was also very reactionary". Gonzalez-Torres responded with "a very political gesture" with a performance that is "a celebration of life". Angels and light The "Unlimited" hall features 67 works, including three angels by German sculptor Thomas Schutte, which foster "a certain ambivalence", said Carmine. With "their wings resembling razors", are they "protective angels or angels of the apocalypse?", he asked. Japanese artist Izumi Kato brings a touch of poetry with his stone structures, painted with enigmatic faces, drawing on the Japanese tradition that each stone contains a spirit. US artist Arlene Shechet plays on contrasts, with a heavy orange abstract sculpture designed to give an impression of lightness despite its weight. "The current political situation is dark and so bringing light and colour and joy and spirit and art is very meaningful," she told AFP. © 2025 AFP
