From Katie Walsh to Rachael Blackmore, we list the most successful female jockeys in Cheltenham Festival history and recap some of the trailblazing female riders of the past.
For many years jump racing was a man’s world but barriers have been broken in the modern era and that includes the rise of female jockeys at the Cheltenham Festival.
There have now been 16 winning lady riders at the Cheltenham Festival since Caroline Beasley in the 1983 Foxhunters Chase on board Eliogarty and the talent pool of riders is growing all the time.
Rachael Blackmore famously became the first female rider ever to be the Leading Jockey at the 2022 Festival, and she will again be among the favourites in the Cheltenham odds to win the award this year.
Here are our top five female jockeys in Cheltenham Festival history.
Most female jockey wins at Cheltenham
1. Rachael Blackmore – 16 wins
Blackmore has done more for the profile of female jockeys than anyone. She first shot to Cheltenham Festival glory in 2019 when A Plus Tard won the Close Brothers Novices’ Handicap Chase by a huge margin for trainer Henry de Bromhead.
The same year, she brought 50-1 chance Minella Indo home to win the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle – again for De Bromhead – landing her first festival Grade 1.
In 2021, she raised the bar by riding six winners and ending the week as leading jockey.
It was Rachael’s world that week, behind closed doors, from the moment Honeysuckle won the Champion Hurdle, a first for a female rider.
There would be five more festival winners for Blackmore – Bob Olinger in the Ballymore, Sir Gerard in the Champion Bumper, Telmesomethinggirl in Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle, Allaho in the Ryanair Chase and Quilixios in the Triumph Hurdle.
She also finished second in the Gold Cup on A Plus Tard after an agonising dilemma saw her pick that De Bromhead contender over the eventual winner Minella Indo.
A year later, the placings were reversed under an ice-cool Blackmore ride when she won the Gold Cup and in 2024 she added the Champion Chase to her CV on Captain Guinness, giving her three of the four Championship races and a running tally of 16 festival winners.
2. Nina Carberry – 7 wins
Nina Carberry came from a racing background, with her father, Tommy, a former jockey and brother, Paul, perhaps the coolest rider of his generation.
Although she resisted the urge to turn professional, Carberry enjoyed seven Cheltenham Festival wins including three successive Cross Country Chase winners in the green and gold silks of JP McManus from 2007 to 2009 aboard Heads Onthe Ground and Garde Champetre (twice).
Further successes came via Dabiroun in the 2005 Fred Winter Handicap Hurdle and with On The Fringe in the St James’s Place Foxhunters’ Chase in 2015 and 2016.
3. Katie Walsh – 3 wins
Katie Walsh, like Carberry, is associated with racing royalty. Her father, Ted, is amongs Ireland’s most popular trainers and television pundits, while brother Ruby has ridden more Cheltenham Festival winners than anyone else.
Katie became a festival scorer in 2010 when steering Poker De Sivola to win the amateur riders’ National Hunt Chase for trainer Ferdy Murphy and would add another on Thousand Stars in the County Hurdle that season. Her final festival success came in the Champion Bumper in 2018 on Relegate for Willie Mullins.
4. Lizzie Kelly – 2 wins
Lizzie Kelly was another trendsetter for women in racing, breaking new ground for female jockeys as she became the first fully fledged professional to win a race at the Cheltenham Festival when steering home Coo Star Sivola to win the Ultima for stepfather Nick Williams in 2018. She doubled her tally the following year when Siruh Du Lac won the Plate Handicap Chase.
5. Bryony Frost – 2 wins
Through her association with Paul Nicholls, Bryony Frost emerged as Britain’s pre-eminent female jump jockey before relocating to France. She partnered Pacha Du Polder to win the St James’s Place Foxhunters’ Chase in 2017 when still riding an amateur, but her biggest days would come in a long association with Frodon. ‘The Dude’ was given a wonderful front-running ride to fend off all challengers in the Ryanair Chase in 2019.
Trailblazing female jockeys at Cheltenham
1983: Caroline Beasley is the first female jockey to win at Cheltenham
Caroline Beasley (now Robinson) was the first ever female jockey to ride a winner at the Cheltenham Festival. The Irish amateur jockey rode Eliogarty to victory in the 1983 Foxhunters Chase (now known as the Hunters’ Chase).
Eliogarty was owned by Beasley herself, having been a gift from her father, and the pair also triumphed at the Foxhunters’ Chase at Aintree in 1986.
1984: Linda Sheedy is the first female rider in the Gold Cup
A year after Beasley’s trailblazing win, Linda Sheedy – now Griffiths – also made history by riding in the Gold Cup, a first for female jockeys.
Sheedy rode Foxbury in the 1984 Gold Cup, a race that was won by Burrough Hill Lad. It wouldn’t be until 2017 that another female jockey – Lizzie Kelly – would ride in the Gold Cup at Cheltenham.
2018: Lizzie Kelly is the first professional female jockey to win at Cheltenham
The first of Lizzie Kelly’s two Cheltenham wins came in 2018, when she rode Coo Star Sivola to victory in the Ultima Handicap Chase. The French horse went off as the 5/1 favourite in the Cheltenham odds and won by a neck from Shantou Flyer, making Kelly the first ever professional female jockey winner at the Cheltenham Festival.
2021: Rachael Blackmore is the first female Leading Jockey at Cheltenham
Rachael Blackmore leads all female jockeys with 16 Cheltenham wins ahead of the 2025 Festival, and six of her victories came during an unforgettable week in 2021.
Blackmore won the Champion Hurdle with Honeysuckle, the Ballymore aboard Bob Olinger, the Champion Bumper aboard Sir Gerhard, the Ryanair Chase on Allaho, the Mares’ Novice Hurdle with Telmesomethinggirl and the Triumph Hurdle aboard Quilixios to become the first woman ever to be named the top jockey at Cheltenham and lift the Ruby Walsh Trophy.
2022: Rachael Blackmore is the first female Gold Cup winner
A year after Blackmore’s incredible 2021 Festival, she again made Cheltenham history by becoming the first female jockey to win the Gold Cup.
Having narrowly missed out aboard A Plus Tard in 2021, Blackmore rode the same horse a year later and won in stunning fashion by 15 lengths from the 2021 winner Minella Indo.