Rachael Blackmore has been rewarded for an excellent year by being nominated in the World Sport Star category at the prestigious annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards. A traditional mainstay of the broadcaster’s festive TV schedule.
The Irish jockey is one of six nominations for the award, and a flurry of betting on her has seen her installed as the bookmaker’s favourite at 4/6, down from her starting odds of 5/2.
The 32-year old faces competition from Mexican Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, who has won multiple world championships in four weight classes from light middleweight to light heavyweight. Legendary American football quarterback Tom Brady. Serbian tennis superstar Novak Djokovic, Jamaican five-time Olympic champion sprinter Elaine Thompson-Herah and Lewis Hamilton’s main rival, Max Verstappen.
Ladbroke’s spokesperson, Nicola McGeady, said: “We installed Rachael Blackmore as the slight favourite for the BBC World Sport Star of the Year gong earlier today. However, it seems punters believe she is head and shoulders above her rivals, and even though she has now gone odds-on, no price seems short enough.”
Blackmore created history and made headlines throughout the world by becoming the first female jockey to win the Grand National in its 182-year history. In the race, she rode the JP McManus owned Minella Times to victory ahead of the 100/1 shot Balko Des Flos ridden by Aidan Coleman and Any Second Now ridden by Mark Walsh.
Along with her stunning Grand National victory, Blackmore also made history at the Cheltenham Festival, winning six races which saw her take the leading jockey award, once again the first female rider to claim the award. Her wins at Cheltenham included the Champion Hurdle on Honeysuckle, the Ryanair Chase on Allaho and he mares’ novices hurdle on Telmesomethinggirl.
Such was Blackmore’s dominance at Cheltenham that she won more races at the festival than all the trainers based in Great Britain combined, leading to the headlines, “Blackmore Six, Great Britain Five”.
UFC fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov won last year’s World Sport Star Award, and voting for this year’s award is already open. The award will be presented during a live broadcast of BBC Sports Personality of the Year on BBC One on December 19th.
Last year, Britain’s Hollie Doyle was nominated for the main award. The racing industry started a campaign to raise the jockey’s profile, and such was the success of that campaign that the odds of her scooping the Sports Personality of the Year award fell from 25-1 to 3-1. The 25-year-old ultimately finished third behind Formula One’s Lewis Hamilton and Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson.
The main Sports Personality of the Year award has gone to racing only once, Sir Anthony McCoy taking the honour in 2010.
BBC World Sports Star of the Year odds – 4-6 Rachael Blackmore, 5 Elaine Thompson-Herah, 10 Novak Djokovic, 12 Tom Brady, Max Verstappen, 16 Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
