Horse racing news: How Rachael Blackmore can inspire more women to attend the Cheltenham Festival

Rachael Blackmore was crowned leading jockey at the Cheltenham Festival in 2021 and will return to the home of jump racing in a new ambassadorial role for 2026.

This week, the Gold Cup winner, who retired from the saddle in May 2025, was appointed Head of Ladies Day at the Cheltenham Festival in a bid to attract more female racegoers.

The Jockey Club had carried out attendance research at the festival and discovered that only a quarter are female, which is lower than the 39% national average for women going racing.

The survey revealed that many women believe the sport is “not for them” and was “mainly targeted at men”.

Cheltenham has already reintroduced Ladies’ Day for the Wednesday of the 2026 festival, after it was ditched back in 2019.

There’s also £10,000 up for grabs through the Style Awards plus live music as Cheltenham leans into what it lazily considers catnip for women – fashion and music.

In fact, I’m surprised they are not handing out flowers and chocolates too. C’mon guys, think outside the box a little!

The root of the problem is that Cheltenham Festival has bigger issues than encouraging more women to attend the showcase event.

Having experienced a decline in attendance rates due to the rising costs of tickets, accommodation, food, and drink, the festival has tried to shave prices in certain areas.

For example, a pint of Guinness is now £7.50 rather than £7.80 … big whoop. Women love to chug down Guinness don’t they?

Blackmore thus has a big job on her hands in getting more women to attend the event, and being a figurehead who gladhands some big cheeses in the corporate tents might not be enough.

Big changes are needed.

“It is going to be a very different experience going racing and not heading for the weighing room, but I’m looking forward to seeing what racedays are like from the other side of the rails and working with the team at Cheltenham,” Blackmore said.

“I’m interested in meeting racegoers to get a proper understanding of why they attend but also what some of the blockers and barriers might be that are stopping their friends and peers from coming.

“Horse racing is an amazing sport and a day at the races provides so much opportunity for people to socialise with friends and meet new people. I’m excited to get involved and see what can be done to engage more women and show them what makes a day at the races such a special and unforgettable experience.”

It sounds like Blackmore’s first Cheltenham in a suit will be exploratory, speaking to racegoers about what makes them come racing, but she really needs to be out in the street speaking to the people who aren’t at the races.

Racing towns are usually very affluent places, with plenty of ‘ladies who lunch’ driving around in their Range Rovers, so why aren’t they at the races? This is just one of a number of lazy stereotypes you’ll find in this article.

Cheltenham chief executive Guy Lavender is also pretty non-committal on what Rachael will actually be doing to get more women racing.

“Rachael’s groundbreaking success on the track, combined with her growing status as a role model beyond the sport and popularity with people of all ages, make her the ideal ambassador to connect the Cheltenham Festival with a new, female-focused audience,” he said.

Here, Sports News Blitz horse racing expert Scott Allen lists a few things that Rachael Blackmore can try when she starts her new job. Yes, some of these ideas should be taken with a pinch of salt, but sometimes the best ideas come from that.

Boot the Cheltenham boardroom door in

As with the majority of major businesses in the UK, the Cheltenham Festival is run by crusty rich men who have an incredibly high opinion of themselves but don’t actually know what they are doing.

The world of sport is full of this type of traditionalism and racing is no stranger to that.

Granted, racing is one of the few sports where women compete at the same level as men in the saddle, in the training stables, and with ownership, but it’s still mainly run by men.

Blackmore may be a legend of the sport, but will those men listen to her? Or will they listen to her, and then dress up the idea as their own.

Sadly, the latter is a standard procedure in business circles that most women will have encountered.

This probably doesn’t work but kicking the boardroom door open, sweeping the tray of biscuits off their lovely oak table, and then grabbing a few of those stuffy men by the collar and pushing them up the wall might go some way into helping you be taken seriously … or get you sacked.

It’s a high-risk strategy.

Blackmore appears too nice for any of these actions, so she’ll need to find a much less aggressive approach to get them to listen.

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Reduce ticket prices

Reducing ticket prices for different demographics is always a tricky one as it alienates groups that don’t get a discount, usually men who voted for Brexit and Nigel Farage – and there’s a lot of them at the races.

Children and pensioners are the default discount settings for most racecourses.

However, kids don’t bet or drink, while pensioners tend to bring their own sandwiches and are usually hardcore gamblers, so their focus is on the races rather than the whole day out.

People typically go racing in groups of men, so perhaps break that up by offering larger group discounts if a certain number of women are in a party.

To mix it up further, have an even bigger discount for larger groups of women who bring along a token man or two.

In short, stop making racing so bloody expensive.

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Rebrand race day and introduce female-friendly themes

Cheltenham has a major issue in that it’s the Olympics of racing, the serious end of the National Hunt season.

Should it really be turned into a social occasion? Well, yes.

The whole atmosphere of the day should be about fashion, food, music, and of course quality horse racing.

There’s plenty of time in between races to get involved in other activities that are maybe more female-friendly too.

Having sponsors and stands that aren’t all about betting and horses might make the whole ambience of the day more appealing.

People don’t go to the high street bookie for the charming atmosphere, so why would they want that at the festival?

In that, Cheltenham has reintroduced Ladies Day, but they need to move on from fashion-only themes.

Wellness lounges, cocktail tents, women-led networking events, social brunches, and charity partnerships could all be considered to appeal to a broader female demographic.

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Enhance hospitality and comfort

Racecourses, by their very nature, are somewhat … pissy.

Horses leak a lot, and so do men after three pints of Guinness.

Visit any of the gents toilets after the second race and you are already reaching the standards of a First World War trench.

Ladies’ toilets aren’t much better as a few extra hand towels and a tampon machine isn’t enough.

Women’s facilities simply need to be upgraded.

Clean, comfortable, and stylish hospitality areas with good seating as well as modern restrooms and family-friendly zones will do wonders.

More premium experiences with day package offers would likewise be great.

For example, a day at the races followed by a day at the spa – something that feels exclusive but at a reasonable price.

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Improve marketing campaigns and develop charity connections

Rachael Blackmore should be across all of Cheltenham’s marketing campaigns both online and offline.

Her story is inspiring and people connect with her on a personal level rather than through statistics.

But does she inspire women who aren’t that into horse racing?

This is where Cheltenham need to get savvy and pair her with a social media influencer or someone with a presence in the mainstream – and that doesn’t mean just rope in Claire Balding.

Blackmore is rarely seen out of silks or stable gear after all.

She needs to be moved away from this area and pushed into the lifestyle side of racing by showing off her fashion, fun, and community work across Instagram and TikTok.

Cheltenham’s race days should also be linked to women’s charities and local initiatives, such as breast cancer awareness or women in sport campaigns.

Men’s charities are usually in attendance at racecourses, so why not women’s?

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Gather feedback

This is probably the most obvious, but you’d be surprised how little research professional marketers actually carry out.

Surveying 50-100 women who are at a racecourse about what they like and dislike isn’t really going to get you anywhere.

Cheltenham’s marketing team needs to go online and into the streets to target their surveys at larger groups of women, those who probably haven’t even been near a racecourse.

Involving broader women’s focus groups, not just local ones, will also help shape direction.

And finally, if you made it all the way down here, my marketing and communications consultancy skills are available if your racecourse needs a fresh pair of eyes – I’m much cheaper than Rachael Blackmore too.

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