Notable Wins: Ridgewood Pearl Stakes (Cheyenne Star 2007), Specsavers Ulster Derby (Kempes 2006), Murphys Irish Stout Handicap Hurdle (Brogella 2006), Bewleys Hotels Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares Hurdle (Brogella 2006), Martinstown Opportunity Series Final Handicap Hurdle (Kells Castle 2006), Irish Stallion Farms EBF Premier Nursery (Kempes 2005), Boylesports Irish 1,000 Guineas (Saoire 2005), Danehill Dancer Tipperary Stakes (Kay Two 2004), Smirnoff Handicap Chase (Golden Storm 2004), People Newspapers 150th Anniversary Bettyville Handicap Chase (Rockwell Island 2003), Pierse Group Drinmore Novice Chase (Nil Desperandum 2003, Sackville 2000), Tommy Whittle Chase (Sackville 2002), Peterhouse Group Charlie Hall Chase (Sackville 2001), Morris Oil Chase (Moscow Express 2001), Powers Gold Cup (Sackville 2001), Captain Christy Novice Handicap Chase (Sackville 2001), Fighting Blindness Novice Chase (Sackville 2001), Anglo Irish Bank Nas Na Riogh Novice Chase (Sackville 2001), Dr. P. J. Moriarty Novice Chase (Sackville 2001), Gowla Power-Pak Naas Novice Chase (Sackville 2001), Powers Gold Label Tote Gold Cup (Moscow Express 2001), Paddy & Helen Cox Memorial Newlands Chase (Moscow Express 2001), Belle Epoque Sefton Novices' Hurdle (Sackville 2000), Compaq Galway Plate (Moscow Express 1999), Natural Gas Price Promise Trigo Stakes (Golden Rule 1998)

A daughter of the immensely shrewd racehorse trainer, Joe Crowley, Frances Crowley was always likely to follow in her fathers footsteps. Before embarking on her current career as a trainer,Frances enjoyed a highly successful career as a jockey, riding a total of 71 winners. In fact,Frances was the first ever woman to be crowned Irish Champion Amateur Rider, a feat she achieved in both 1995 and 1996. Then, in 1998,Crowley made her conversion to the training ranks when taking over the stables that had been occupied by her sister, Anne Marie and her husband Aidan O’Brien, in Piltown, Co Kilkenny. So seamless was this transition that in her first year in her profession, she saddled no less than 42 winners which saw her finish third in the trainers’ championship.

Prolific performers of note during the early stages ofCrowley’s training career included Golden Rule who progressed tremendously well on the Flat during 1998, winning three handicaps before claiming success in the Listed Trigo Stakes at Leopardstown. However, undoubtedly the stable star of that period was the admirable tough Moscow Express.

Trained by Aidan O’Brien and David Nicholson to win a total of seven races in the early part of his career, Moscow Express made the perfect start to his career withCrowley when making a winning chasing debut atCork in June 1998. A versatile sort, he invariably peaked during the summer months and over the course of the following five years, he won a total of 18 races. Two of those wins that stand out from the rest are the 1999 Galway Plate, which he won in typically game fashion under Ruby Walsh, and the Grade 1 Powers Gold Label Tote Gold Cup in which he beat the mighty Florida Pearl by six lengths under Barry Geraghty.

While Moscow Express was still in his prime,Crowley unearthed another star in the making in the shape of Sackville. A dual bumper winner, Sackville won five races as a novice hurdler with the undoubted highlight coming in the Grade 1 Sefton Novice Hurdle at the 2000 Aintree Grand National meeting. However, it wasn’t until Sackville was sent over fences that he really caught the racing public’s imagination. Beaten in his first two starts over the larger obstacles, remarkably he went on to win each of his next eight starts in the 1999/2000 season including in the Grade 1 Pierse Drinmore Novice Chase and the Grade 1 Powers Gold Cup. Unfortunately the latter win would prove to be his last win at the highest level, but in the next few seasons he added further high profile successes to his tally including the 2001 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby and the 2002 Tommy Whittle Chase at Haydock.

While her yard has always very much been dual-purpose in it’s nature, Crowley has begun to lean more towards the Flat game in recent seasons and when it comes to booking jockeys for her runners on the Flat, Frances doesn’t have to look too far considering she is married to high profile jockey Pat Smullen. In 2002, as Smullen was based at the Curragh,Frances made the decision to move her training camp to the flat racing headquarters and together they bought Clifton Lodge Stables where they remain to this day.

Having made history as a jockey, the odds of Crowley rewriting the record books as a trainer would have to have been significantly shorter than most, and it was a filly by the name of Saoire that helped her make another unique piece of history. A smart two-year-old, Saoire won a maiden at Leopardstown before finishing third in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes and second in the Group 2 C L Weld Park Stakes. She made her seasonal reappearance in the Newmarket 1,000 Guineas and showed plenty of promise in finishing sixth behind Virginia Waters, but it was on her next start that she would gain her defining victory. Sent off at 10/1 for the Irish 1,000 Guineas at the Curragh, Saoire was always prominent under Mick Kinane and having struck the front inside the final furlong, she held on by a short-head in a desperately close bunch finish. The win meant that Crowley became the first ever woman to train the winner of an Irish Classic and to make an amazing day even more special, Crowley’s husband Pat Smullen rode Grey Swallow to win the other Group 1 on the card, the Tattersalls Gold Cup. While Saoire failed to recapture her best form after that win, she didn’t owe anybody anything and will undoubtedly hold a special place inCrowley’s heart for the rest of her life.

Since Saoire, the two stars of theCrowley operation have undoubtedly been Kempes and Cheyenne Star. Kempes made his debut at Leopardstown in July 2005 and while he met with defeat on his first two visits to the racecourse, he got his head in front at the third attempt in a maiden at the Listowel Harvest Festival. Stepped up to a mile for his next start in a premier nursery atGowran Park, he stayed on strongly to prevail by a length. Not seen again until the following June, he made a successful reappearance in a 9f handicap at Fairyhouse off a 7lbs higher mark. A fortnight later he stepped up markedly in trip and class to contest the Ulster Derby Premier Handicap. Always prominent under Pat Smullen, he went to the front 2f and stayed on strongly to come home 2½l in front of Callow Lake. However, that would prove to be his final start of the 2006 season. He made his seasonal reappearance on Irish 1,000 Guineas day at the Curragh and only lost out by the shortest of short of heads to the progressive King Rama. On that evidence, there will be plenty more races to be won with Kempes later this season.

Cheyenne Star made the perfect start to her career for Crowley when making a winning debut at Thurles in September 2005. The following season she won a conditions race and a handicap before finishing in the frame in three Listed races at the backend of the season. An uninspiring seasonal reappearance behind Ardbrae Lady in the Park Express Stakes last March was followed by a hugely impressive success in a fillies handicap at Gowran Park the following month. She was sent off at 7/1 for the Group 3 Ridgewood Pearl Stakes at the Curragh on the strength of that win and she showed an impressive battling attitude to get her head in front in the final 50 yards to record by far the biggest win of her career. Based on that success, she is sure to win more valuable races for the Crowley team.In 2006 Crowley landed two big pots at the Punchestown Festival with Brogella and Kells Castle. Brogella followed up this successful win with another at the Killarney summer festival winning the competitive Murphys Irish Stout Handicap Hurdle. A travel up North for Specsavers Ulster bank proved right when Kempes took the spoils. Cheyenne Star continued to pay her way and won two races in 2006.

"I've been training for 10 years and I just need 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.''