Frances Crowley

Frances Crowley has ruled out a full scale return to the training ranks and described sending out her first runner in 16 years at Leopardstown on Friday as "just a bit of fun" with the ultimate goal being to provide her daughter Hannah with a breakthrough victory in the saddle.  Wife of the late Pat Smullen, a nine-time champion jockey in Ireland, Crowley created history in 2005 when she became the first woman to win a Classic race in Ireland with Saoire storming to a memorable triumph in the 1,000...

Four summers ago, TDN had the privilege of having Pat Smullen as our weekly columnist. It would be easy to imagine that someone with as much knowledge of the racing game as the nine-time Irish champion jockey would just reel off a few thoughts and consider it job done, but that was not the way with Smullen. It was clear in our weekly chats that he took this new role every bit as seriously as he took race-riding, which he had to give up, reluctantly, at the age of 42,...

Cancer Trials Ireland, the national organisation dedicated to advancing cancer clinical trials, will create a new position to anchor expertise in pancreatic research in Ireland with the ambition of creating a global centre for treatment and research for a form of cancer with some of the poorest outcomes--the Pat Smullen Chair in Pancreatic Cancer at University College Dublin. The position will require shared time between clinical work as a treating physician at St Vincent's University Hospital--the national surgical centre for pancreatic cancer--and research work at University College Dublin (UCD). Candidates...

The Coast To Curragh charity cycle will be staged on Sept. 25, with a host of racing personalities taking place in the event that will raise money for Cancer Trials Ireland in memory of Pat Smullen. Smullen, nine times Irish champion jockey and a beloved member of the Irish weighing room, lost his battle with pancreatic cancer last September after fighting so bravely and raising millions for Cancer Trials Ireland. The cycle will begin at Laytown Races and finish at The Curragh, a distance of 155 km that will feature...

Aidan O'Brien described Pat Smullen as "irreplaceable" on Thursday, two days after his brother-in-law and nine-time Irish champion jockey lost his battle with pancreatic cancer aged 43. While Smullen's and O'Brien's wives Frances Crowley and Annemarie O'Brien are sisters and highly accomplished horsewomen, Smullen spent much of his career in rivalry with O'Brien as stable jockey to Dermot Weld. "Pat was one very special person--one of these people you meet once in a lifetime," O'Brien told Sky Sports Racing. "He is irreplaceable. He was genuine, tough, consistent--an unbelievable horseman and...

At a time when the planet seems more divided than ever, there came a moment on Tuesday night within the notoriously conflicted world of horseracing that gave us all pause for thought. Thought and utter sadness. The news of the death of Pat Smullen at the age of just 43 was followed by a flood of heartfelt tributes. They came both from within the racing world, united for once in sentiment, and from those outside its sphere, including the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins. As befits a man of...

Pat Smullen, Irish Champion Jockey nine times throughout his career, passed away on the evening of Sept.15 at St Vincent's Hopsital in Dublin, Ireland. Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March of 2018, he was 43. Smullen began riding out as an apprentice for Tom Lacy, and made an immediate impact, being named champion apprentice both in 1995 and 1996. He also rode for Joanna Morgan and after serving his apprenticeship, Smullen rode for various other trainers, including John Oxx, and Tommy Stack before joining forces as first call rider for...

Joe Crowley, one of the most popular and respected as well as one of the most significant figures in Irish racing in recent decades, has passed away at the age of 91. He enjoyed notable success as both trainer and breeder, while further glory has been brought to his farm at Owning Hill near Piltown in Co. Kilkenny at various times by his daughters Annemarie and Frances, by his son-in-law Aidan O'Brien and, currently, by his grandson Joseph O'Brien. Joe Crowley began life as a farmer but his love of...