Irish National Hunt jockey John Crowley was born in Cork on July 2, 1941. An outspoken, shoot-from-the-hip individual, he rode many winners before taking up training in his native county. He rode for much of his career for trainer Jimmy Murphy.
John won the 1968 Totalisator Champion Novices’ Chase (now the RSA Chase) at the Cheltenham Festival on the six-year-old Herring Gull, beating Gay Trip and Freddie Boy in decisive fashion.
On the basis of that emphatic victory, Herring Gull, owned by Mrs Nora Wilson and trained by Paddy Mullins at Goresbridge, Co. Kilkenny, was sent off the 5-2 favourite for the Irish Grand National four weeks later. Following a prolonged duel up the Fairyhouse straight, John Crowley and Herring Gull just got the better of Ben Hannon on Knockaney by a short head. Two weeks later, John was reunited with Herring Gull to win the John Jameson Cup at Punchestown. John was in with every chance of becoming champion National Hunt jockey that same year. He held a clear lead in the jockeys’ table when suffering a bad fall, which left him facing the prospect of amputation of a leg. Fortunately, this proved unnecessary, allowing him to continue his career in the saddle.
He rode five more winners in Britain, all of them on The Shining Lad, trained by Jimmy FitzGerald. He won two handicap hurdles on him during the 1974/75 campaign, then three novice chases the following season.
Although FitzGerald officially trained The Shining Lad, there seems little doubt that John Crowley played a big part in the horse’s preparation, probably through an arrangement with the horse’s owner. There is further evidence of this in that John took over the training of The Shining Lad during the summer of 1976 and saddled him to win the Munster Harp Lager Long Distance Handicap Hurdle at Killarney in July, ridden by Liam O’Donnell.
Having retired from the saddle and begun training at Scarriff in County Cork, he was denied an early Cheltenham Festival success when the stewards disqualified his 20-1 shot Hippolito after he had passed the post first in the 1979 County Hurdle, the race being awarded the half-length runner-up Monte Ceco.
Probably John’s best horse was Ballinacurra Lad, whom he trained to win the 1984 Embassy Premier Chase Final at Ascot. The horse finished eleventh in the 1985 Cheltenham Gold Cup but was then transferred to Martin Pipe’s stable.
John Crowley died on April 1, 2003, aged 61.
His six British winners were:
Herring Gull, Totalisator Champion Novices’ Chase, Cheltenham, March 19, 1968
The Shining Lad, Tay Handicap Hurdle, Perth, September 26, 1974
The Shining Lad, Tweed Handicap Hurdle, Kelso, October 5, 1974
The Shining Lad, James Pigg Novices’ Chase, Teesside Park, November 18, 1975
The Shining Lad, Mansfield Novices’ Chase, Southwell, December 1, 1975
The Shining Lad, Wheatley Park Chase, Doncaster, March 2, 1976
