TOP French trainer Criquette Head-Maarek announced this week that she is to retire after a highly-successful career lasting over 40 years.

She will saddle her last runners on February 1st. However, she will still be involved in the sport and plans to devote more time to the family stud, Haras du Quesnay in Deauville.

“I’ve got some runners on Friday and I’ve got runners on the 1st of February and then I will stop. I am 70 years old,” she said.

“It was a tough decision to take, because it is always tough when you decide to change. It is a big change for me. I have been training since 1977, so 41 years.”

Born into the Head racing dynasty that began with her great-grandfather, she was assistant to her father Alec before starting off on her own in 1977. She quickly made a name for herself, being the first female to saddle the winner of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe with Three Troikas in 1979, ridden by her brother, Freddy, and owned by her mother, Ghislaine.

Big-race triumphs came over the following decades, with wins in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (French 1000 Guineas) seven times, the Prix de Diane (French Oaks) three times and the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (2000 Guineas) and Prix du Jockey Club (Derby) once each. In later years she was renowned for her handling of the dual Arc winner Treve.

In 2014 Treve became the first dual winner of the world’s richest turf race since Alleged in 1977/78.

Extra credit was given to Head-Maarek, who was one of the few that hadn’t written the four-year-old off after disappointing performances in the summer at Royal Ascot and back and foot problems.

Bred at Haras du Quesnay, the Motivator filly won six Group 1 races, her first coming in the Prix de Diane in 2013.

“Treve was a blessing for me, because she was bred by my dad, so that was something to win the Arc,” she said.

“I owe everything to every owner I have worked with – Prince Khalid Abdullah, Maktoum Al Maktoum, the Wertheimer Brothers, my dad (Alec Head). I owe everything to my dad. I have had so many good owners in my life and I was very lucky to train good horses.”

The Head family has had a long association with the Wertheimer family, proprietors of the House of Chanel perfume company and owners of successful racing stables. Alec Head trained horses for both Pierre Wertheimer (1887-1965) and his son Jacques (1909-1996).

In 1983, Criquette Head took over as Jacques Wertheimer’s trainer. In 1986, she was the champion trainer in France. She continued to have great success with Wertheimer and his sons Alain and Gerald until they ended their working relationship in August 2006 following a disagreement over the owners’ retained jockey, Olivier Peslier.

Her British classic winners include the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket four times: Ma Biche in 1983, Ravinella in 1988 and Hatoof 1992 and the latest with Special Duty in 2010. The latter and Ravinella completed the English/French Guineas double.

Head-Maarek recalled her first Group 1 winner was Sigy, in only her second season with a licence.

“My first Group 1 was Sigy in the Abbaye. I started in September 1977 with the yearlings and my first Group 1 was in 1978 with Sigy who was a two-year-old,” she said. “My last Group 1 was with National Defense in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere (in October 2016).

“I think I’ve won about 80 Group 1s and roughly maybe about 3,000 winners in all, but I don’t know exactly. I know it’s quite a lot!

“As a trainer and being a woman I’ve had a fantastic life. I was very lucky with fillies, because in those days I used to train for breeders and they used to send me their fillies.

“When you have big breeders as owners, that is important for a trainer because every year you have lots of yearlings coming in, about 100. I will keep my stable and rent it for the moment unless someone wants to buy it from me.”

Head-Maarek had plenty of success in England, including the Champion Stakes with Hatoof in 1993, the July Cup in 1996 with Anabaa and the Cheveley Park Stakes on four occasions.

She also struck with Hatoof and Walter Swinburn winning the E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine in 1992 and the Beverly D. Stakes at Arlington in 1994.

“I really have had a fantastic life training. I have been blessed. Good horses make good trainers and I’ve had a lot of good horses in my yard,” she said.

“I have been president of the European Trainers Federation for three years and president of the French trainers also. I was happy to do these things. It has been a pleasure. I want the young ones to come and I will help them if they need me.”