Wife of late Offaly jockey Pat Smullen trains Leopardstown runner with daughter on board

There will be a poignant moment at Leopardstown this evening as Frances Crowley, wife of late Offaly jockey Pat Smulle, saddles her first runner as a racehorse trainer in 16 years. 

A former Irish champion amateur jockey, Frances trained horses in the late 1990s and early 2000s and became the first female trainer to win an Irish classic when Saoire won the 2005 Irish 1,000 Guineas. Her training licence lapsed in 2008 and she has been out of the racing game since then having had a family with late husband, nine-time champion jockey, Pat Smullen.

It was in fact her kids - Hannah, Paddy and Sarah - who pushed their mother to take up the licence again with eldest daughter Hannah, 21, following in both her parents' footsteps by starting out as a jockey.

She's already ridden in five bumper races for trainer Gordon Elliott but could provide her family with a very special winner if The Black Tiger can win the 8.15pm contest at Leopardstown on Friday night.

The victory would come almost four years after the death of her dad Pat Smullen, the Rhode man who became one of the most successful Irish jockeys of all-time in a lengthy career, riding predominantly for Dermot Weld. Pat died in September 2020 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He raised millions of Euro with various fundraisers for cancer research during his illness.

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Hannah partners The Black Tiger, rated a 10/1 in most bookies, in the 8.15pm race at Leopardstown. Her mother and trainer Frances Crowley told the Racing Post that she was unsure the horse would stay one and a half miles but that "it's exciting" to have him running.

Frances acquired the horse out of Aidan O'Brien's yard where he had four runs, winning once on his latest start at the Curragh last summer. That was over a mile and two furlongs so the horse will have stamina to prove over the longer trip. The horse runs in the colours of Brickfield Stud established by Frances and Pat on land once worked by his father as a labourer. 

A win tonight would be a fabulous story for the family and we will be watching with interest.