Ruby Walsh: Rachael Blackmore proved what we already knew - there's no gender separation in racing 

It doesn’t make Rachael any different a person to the one she was on Monday but, she proved that she is a top class jockey, not a top class female jockey

Honeysuckle and Rachael Blackmore win for owner Kenny Alexander and trainer Henry de Bromhead. Picture: Healy Racing

There is no doubt about who was the star of day one of the Festival: it was Rachael Blackmore, on Honeysuckle. It was an incredible performance from the two of them in the Champion Hurdle.

It doesn’t make Rachael any different a person to the one she was on Monday but, in her quest to be seen by the wider world as a jockey and not a female jockey or a woman jockey, she proved on the biggest stage that she is just that.