1,000 Guineas report: Frances Crowley wrote her own special chapter in racing history yesterday when Saoire landed a thrilling success in the Boylesports Irish 1,000 Guineas at the Curragh.
Michael Kinane rode a power-packed finish to get the filly home by a short head from the 25 to 1 outsider Penkenna Princess with only four lengths covering the first dozen horses home.
However, a short head is as good as a mile when it comes to classic history and that is exactly what Saoire achieved for her trainer.
Crowley (32) became the first woman to officially train an Irish Classic winner and the significance of the occasion was not lost on the woman who is married to the former champion jockey Pat Smullen and is a sister-in-law of the champion trainer Aidan O'Brien.
"It means an awful lot, but I thought we had lost. It was very close," beamed Crowley. "I was also the first woman to be the champion amateur rider so it's great to make a little bit of history again."
To make the day even more special, her husband gave Grey Swallow an inspired ride to beat Bago in the Group One Tattersalls Gold Cup, and to prove that some days really do unfold perfectly, it also just happened to be Smullen's 28th birthday!
"It's a fantastic afternoon for everyone," smiled the jockey who won last year's Derby on the same colt and who ran fourth on Utterly Heaven in yesterday's big race. But if Classic wins are not new to him, his wife was breaking new ground yesterday.
Back in the 1940s Mrs Ginger Wellesley trained a number of classic winners at the Curragh, including the 1948 1,000 Guineas with Morning Wings. However, in those days women were not allowed hold a licence and officially those winners were trained by Mrs Wellesley's head man Eddie McGrath.
Crowley had already hit the top mark on the jumping scene with Grade One triumphs that included Nil Desperandum's Drinmore Chase in 2003. But this was her first Group victory of any description on the level.
To do it Saoire had to reverse form from the Newmarket Guineas with the winner Virginia Waters and the runner-up Maids Causeway. But the filly found her home turf to be a welcome vacation from the stress of travelling. "She got quite upset on the plane over to England because the ceiling was so low," explained Crowley who has a two-year-old daughter, Hannah.
"But we knew the track and the ground here would suit a lot better. She was also at the top of her game." So was Kinane who was winning the 1,000 Guineas for the third time in his career, but who had earlier endured a torrid time on Azamour in the Tattersalls Gold Cup.
Only six horses lined up, but as Smullen drove for home on Grey Swallow, and the Arc winner Bago challenged on the outside, Kinane was left with nowhere to go.
Azamour eventually had to settle for fourth as Grey Swallow held off the French challenger by three-parts of a length and the placings were subsequently left unaltered by a stewards' inquiry.
"The King George is an obvious race for him now. It was a brilliant performance against the best horses in Europe. He's a Derby winner and we wanted to put it up to them," said Grey Swallow's trainer Dermot Weld.
It wasn't a great day generally for Oxx whose Epsom Derby hope Ehsan managed to beat only one home in the Group Three Gallinule Stakes.
Instead it was Gypsy King's Chester form that got a boost as Im Spartacus just held off the fast-finishing Ballydoyle hope Scorpion by a short head.
In the circumstances, it seemed entirely appropriate that the last race of the day, the 10-furlong maiden, went to the Smullen ridden Helvetio who was two lengths too good for Princess Nala.
