Rachael Blackmore Grand National 2024: Jockey to ride Minella Indo

Rachael Blackmore is looking for her second win in the Aintree Grand National and if she is to do so, the jockey will do so on board a horse who has already tasted big race glory as the 34-year-old will ride 2021 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Minella Indo on Saturday.

We take a look at the chances that Rachael Blackmore’s Grand National horse for 2024 will bring her another big win...

Heading into the week, everyone was pretty sure who the 16-time Cheltenham Festival winning jockey would ride. She was always going to take the top horse trained by Henry De Bromhead in the field and it was patently obvious that Minella Indo would be that top choice and so it has come to pass.

Of course, Rachael Blackmore has an interesting history with the horse having chosen to ride A Plus Tard in the 2021 Cheltenham Gold Cup rather than Minella Indo. The 100/30 favourite would finish second by one-and-a-quarter lengths to the 9/1 shot and it was jockey Jack Kennedy who would pilot him to that win as De Bromhead completed a very impressive one-two finish that day.

A month later at Aintree, Blackmore would not be beaten as Minella Times came home as the 11/1 fourth-favourite and history was made and she became the first female jockey to taste victory in the famous race

In 2022, Blackmore stuck with A Plus Tard for the Cheltenham Gold Cup rather than switch to the winner from the year before and the decision paid off, as this time the French horse would get the better of his stable-mate and she would taste victory in the feature race of the Cheltenham Festival meeting. Once more, it was historic as she became the first female jockey to win that race.

Back in 2023, she rode Ain’t That A Shame in the Grand National and the surge of support for the horse after she was announced as the jockey showed up in the betting, with his odds more than halving from 20/1 to 8/1 in the hours following the announcement. He would go off at 10s but finished a disappointing 17th. A similar market shift this year would surprise no-one.

As for Minella Indo, this 11-year-old has been a mighty fine horse but winning the Grand National, three years removed from his greatest day feels like a bit of a stretch. He didn’t look great in the Champion Chase at Down Royal in November, finishing 21 lengths behind the winner but he will be fresh, having not ridden in the cancelled Cheltenham Cross Country last month.

There is no doubt Minella Indo will attract plenty of support in the market following this news and they’ll be plenty of eyes on Rachael Blackmore to see if she can become the fifth jockey this century to win the race more than once (Rugby Walsh, Leighton Aspell, Davy Russell and Derek Fox being the others).

Bet on Minella Indo to win the Grand National:

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Remember, you can check out all of our Grand National Tips on our dedicated section, with plenty of content planned before the race on Saturday.