Retiring Crowley not ruling out returning to training on a small scale
Crowley, who made Irish racing history three years ago by becoming the first licensed female trainer to send out an Irish Classic winner when Saoire took the 1000 Guineas at the Curragh, plans to have her final runners in the next month.
“It was a hard decision, but I have been thinking about it for a while. It’s sad in a lot of ways but I am looking to a kind of fresh start and a different way of life,” she said.
“I’ve been training for 10 years and I just left I needed a change.
“At the end of the season I shall be finished but in the future, who knows? I might run one or two horses under private licence but I don’t know.”
Crowley, mother of two and married to Flat champion jockey Pat Smullen, started training at Piltown, County Kilkenny alongside her father, Joe in 1998.
She has been at her present base at Clifton Lodge on the Curragh for the last five years.
“We have our own farm and we have a couple of mares and foals. I think I probably will take it easy for a month or two and see what we’re doing,” she added.
“I’m dispersing the horses at the moment but there are a few horses I own myself and I need to race on. I could have one or two runners for the next month or so.
“I don’t actually have a last runner as such.
“I will be kept busy and who knows what will happen in the future. At the moment I just want a break from the training.”
Although Crowley has saddled around 350 winners, she has only had the one success this year, supplied by Cheyenne Star.
The five-year-old mare, who is bound for the paddocks, may bid for back-to-back victories in the Castlemartin Stud EBF Garnet Stakes at Naas on Sunday.
“The ground is currently soft which doesn’t really suit her, but as she is being retired and going to stud, perhaps the owner might let her run,” Crowley continued.
“The ground is not ideal for her, but I will be chatting with the owner to see if we will let her take her chance.
“I’ve been really lucky. She’s been a great servant and I’m very fond of her.”
Saoire and Cheyenne Star are among the horses to have given her success on the Flat, while her big-race winners over jumps include Sackville, Moscow Express, Promalee and Nil Desperandum.
“I’ve been really lucky both with the horses and with some great owners I’ve enjoyed training for,” she added.
“”They’ve all asked me to keep in touch and I will so plenty of contact.
“I have a young family and I’ll be looking forward to spending more time with them but I’ll keeping busy and I won’t be getting the pipe and slippers out just yet.”
