For the first time in 16 years, Rachael Blackmore is taking a breath, and plans to enjoy a normal summer in Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow, with her ‘amazing’ long-term partner, jockey Brian Hayes.

The jockey announced her retirement in May after a glittering run of achievements including being the woman to win the Grand National at Aintree and the first female jockey to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

‘I’m actually looking forward to opening a wedding invite and not having to check the date against the racing calendar,’ Rachael smiles as she chats about her post-retirement summer plans. ‘And doing something nice for my birthday, which is coming up soon. But first – I’m going on holiday.’

Rachael, who is an ambassador for the Volvo Dún Laoghaire Regatta, laughs, adding that she’s taking her time before deciding on any big future life plans or career segues. ‘I just want to enjoy the normal stuff of life for a while,’ she muses. ‘And yes, I’ll be thinking of what’s in store.

‘I’ll never be able to find something that’s going to replace the joy that riding winners gave me,’ she reflects. ‘But if I can find something that gives me half as much pleasure, that will do,’ she says simply, wryly adding that for the first week after her retirement, she was catching up with everyone, and ‘must have gone to lunch every other day’.

‘When you’re racing, it’s the number one priority in your life. Your whole day revolves around riding out and the next competition.’ In the same breath however, Rachael is quick to point out that racing was never a job. Not for her. This was her life, her heart, her soul and the source of so much joy.

All of the other stuff – the grit, endurance and regimented lifestyle necessary to achieve such greatness – was, in fact, a privilege.

‘Racing never felt like a job, because I loved what I was doing so much so nothing felt ever felt like a massive sacrifice,’ she says. She admits that never in her wildest dreams did she think her passion for horses would lead to her iconic livelihood.

‘I was always that kid that was outside,’ she says of growing up on a dairy farm in Killenaule, Co Tipperary, with her parents Eimir and Charles, and siblings Jonathan and Charlotte.

‘We always had ponies and horses at home so I was lucky, I never had to ask for a pony,’ she says of her idyllic rural childhood. ‘Then as I got into my teenage years, my interest in racing started growing.’

After finishing school, Rachael gained a degree in equine science at the University of Limerick, while riding out and competing as an amateur jockey. Then, encouraged by her first trainer, John ‘Shark’ Hanlon, after a series of wins, she made the leap to professional racing.

‘I turned professional when I was 25, which is quite late, but things started to kind of pick up for me,’ recalls Rachael, in typical modest fashion. ‘There came that point when I probably thought, this could be a career, but I still didn’t think it would reach the heights that it did.’

Alongside her exceptional equestrian skill, hard work and tenacity, Rachael admits she had to develop and nurture a sense of strong self-belief in her journey to greatness. ‘You have to believe in yourself deep down,’ she says. ‘You don’t have to outwardly say it, but you just have to allow yourself to believe that if you get the opportunities, you will be good enough.

‘I think that’s in every walk of life, you have to try and even if you don’t really believe it, just kind of lie to your own brain,’ she says in her unassuming way. While she worked very hard to get to the pinnacle of her career, she credits the opportunities – and horses – that helped her along the way.

‘You have to put yourself in the best position you can but then you need to get the bounce of the ball – and I definitely got that,’ she shrugs. ‘The main thing you need in racing is to be riding a good horse, to have the success that I had on the big stage. There’s so many good riders who don’t get on the horses that I got so you need some luck that way.’

While Rachael closes one chapter of her life as a professional jockey, something new has begun in a different field with the publication of her first children’s book – Granny National – last month which she was inspired to write after her the Grand National win.

‘I used to have kids coming up to me after races and getting a picture with me so I thought a book would be a nice thing for them. It was a hard thing to do, but I got great help from writer Rachael Pierce,’ she admits. ‘A few kids have come up to me to tell me they’ve really enjoyed it and that was so cool,’ she says. ‘I didn’t expect that to feel so good.’

She is the ultimate role model for younger generations, both male and female. Horse racing is one of few sports in which women and men compete with no gender barrier, and it’s Rachael’s belief that any stigma that existed in the industry against female riders is gone.

‘It’s a privilege and an honour to be the first woman to do something,’ reflects Rachael on her boundary-breaking wins. ‘My natural reaction is not to make a deal out of it, because in our industry, there was amazing women that went before me and then more recently people like Nina Carberry and Katie Walsh.’

While Nina has gone on to become a Fine Gael MEP and Katie now runs a successful horse buying and selling business with her husband Ross O’Sullivan, it remains to be seen what Rachael will do next. For her, that’s exactly the way it is supposed to be.

‘I never wanted to be thinking about part two of my life when I was riding, I wanted to just fully focus on being a jockey and give that all my energy and thought,’ she surmises. ‘Now I’m just figuring what the rest of it looks like.

‘I never thought I’d win a Grand National or write a children’s book – so my life has taken turns,’ she smiles. ‘I suppose what I’ve learnt along the way is that nothing is really impossible. So just dream big.’

Rachael is ambassador for the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta which takes place from July 10-13, see dlregatta.org or follow Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta on Facebook or Instagram for details