Michael Blackmore was the second son of permit trainer Alan Grenville Blackmore and his wife, Patricia. They lived at Chasers, Stockings Lane, Little Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire.
Michael is one of the few jockeys in these biographies who never actually rode a winner under Rules. He had once fallen from a horse - which was killed - and gave up riding for seven years. He returned to racing in 1983 and rode in several NH flat races and amateur riders' hurdle races, being placed on many occasions.
At Market Rasen, on May 10, 1986, Michael was booked to ride Silent Shadow in the second division of the Lincolnshire Amateur Riders' Maiden Hurdle.
Silent Shadow came down at the third.
A splinter of bone from a rib punctured Michael's lung and main artery. (There is only one other recorded incident where this injury has occurred.)
He was rushed to Lincoln County Hospital but was dead on arrival. He was 30.
He left a widow, Frances, and an 18-month-old son.
Warwick Racecourse staged a race in his memory. Ran on December 27, it was a two-and-a-half-mile handicap chase for amateur riders.
