Tipperary jockey Rachael Blackmore has been crowned the 2021 RTE Sportsperson of the Year.
The Killenaule woman is the first jockey to win the award since Tony McCoy won it back in 2013.
Blackmore had a fantastic year in the saddle, becoming the first woman to win the Grand National and the first to get the leading rider title at Cheltenham, where she had six wins, including the Champion Hurdle.
She beat off stiff competition for the RTE Sportsperson of the Year award, from boxer Kellie Harrington, paralympian swimmer Ellen Keane, Limerick hurler Cian Lynch and last year’s award winner Katie Taylor.
In other racing news, the final race meeting of the year in Thurles gets underway this afternoon.
Seven races are on today’s card, with the first going to post at 12.10.
The featured race of the day, the BetVictor Irish EBF Boreen Belle Mares Novice Hurdle, gets underway at 1.40.
The final race of the year at the track goes to post at 3.10pm.
