Prohibit to prove point for Crowley

HOW times change. A decade ago, Jim Crowley was a journeyman jump jockey with Sue and Harvey Smith, stalwarts of National Hunt racing, while coming to terms with the indignity of a first fence fall in the Grand National.

Now Crowley – Flat racing’s most improved jockey – hopes to defy another Yorkshire training legend, Mick Easterby, by landing today’s Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes on Prohibit.

The winner of the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot, this super sprinter will always have a special place in Crowley’s affections – he was born at Heatherwood Hospital that stands adjacent to the world-famous venue.

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Equally, Crowley, 32, will never forget the “unique education” that he received at Bingley’s Craiglands Farm, home to the Smith family, before switching to the Flat shortly after winning a valuable Sandown hurdle on the durable Ungaro.

“It helped that I came from a riding background, show-jumping and all that. I think I had a pony under my arse before I could walk,” Crowley told the Yorkshire Post.

“Harvey saw me riding at Wetherby one day and offered me a job. It was as simple as that. I can’t have done too badly – I must have had a couple of hundred winners for them.

“The first time I arrived, I must have driven past the farm entrance three times because I thought it was a scrap yard, but I loved it. You couldn’t fail to learn about horsemanship from Harvey.

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“Yes, the bollockings went with the territory. I was more afraid of them from Sue – you knew you had done something wrong. With Harvey, they went with the territory. You worried when he wasn’t having to go.

“But all they wanted was the best. If you can’t learn there, you don’t deserve to be in racing. It’s some school, they have.”

The change only came in 2006 when Crowley – who rode Martin Pipe’s Art Prince to an inglorious parting of the ways in the 2001 National – started riding out in the summer for his sister-in-law Amanda Perrett, the Sussex trainer.

“I was quite stocky and realised that I could lose a stone without killing myself,” he explained.

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“I won the Jockey Club Cup on Hawridge Prince and he was talked about as a Ascot Gold cup horse. It became a no-brainer.”

Since then, Crowley has not looked back. His first Group One came on Lord Shanakill for the then Leyburn trainer Karl Burke – horse and rider were also third to Mastercraftsman in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.

But it is the Robert Cowell-trained Prohibit, who bypassed Glorious Goodwood to prepare for the Nunthorpe, that is taking Crowley’s career to new heights.

He has hopes that the sprinter could be Breeders’ Cup material and good enough to compete at the Dubai World Cup next year. “Going to these races on a good horse, you don’t mind the airport queues.”

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It will not be easy, however. Easterby’s Hoof It – co-owned by the trainer, golfer Lee Westwood and sports agent Chubby Chandler – has the big race services of jockey Kieren Fallon, the six-times champion jockey.

Crowley also respects York specialist Masamah, who won at Glorious Goodwood for Kevin Ryan and is now the Hambleton trainer’s No 1 contender following the withdrawal, due to a gallops setback, of the well-regarded Norfolk Stakes hero Bapak Chinta.

There is also Sole Power, last year’s 100-1 shock winner who beat Prohibit in the Temple Stakes at Haydock provided the ground is not unduly soft. And then Ireland’s top two-year-old Requinto, who only carries 8st 1lb under the age-weight allowance – with most of the fancied runners on 9st 11lb.

“Royal Ascot, who would have thought? Certainly not when schooling all those jumpers at Craiglands Farm. There, everything is geared towards the big steeplechase fences. While I do miss the jumps, I think I will have a much longer career on the Flat – certainly more winners.

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“You just dream of days like the King’s Stand Stakes. A Group One. British Champions Series. All your friends at the course – and you win.

“We could easily have gone to Goodwood, but chose not to because we wanted to keep Prohibit fresh for the Nunthorpe.

“It’s one of the most prestigious sprints in Europe, and you can tell that by the line-up. There’s quality everywhere. The winner will be a very, very good horse. I just hope it’s me – and then Harvey will know that I got one decision right!”

Ebor meeting going report

With the ground drying out all the time, the ground is now officially good, good to soft for day three. Night-time showers are not set to change the going with the forecast for dry and bright conditions tomorow.