Criquette Head-Maarek: Classic-winning trainer announces retirement

Treve, trained by Criquette Head-Maarek (right), won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 2013 and 2014

Multiple Classic-winning racehorse trainer Criquette Head-Maarek, famed for her handling of dual Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Treve, is to retire.

The 70-year-old will saddle her last runners on 1 February, ending a career lasting more than 40 years.

She will still be involved in the sport and will devote more time to the family stud - Haras du Quesnay in Deauville.

"I really have had a fantastic life training. I have been blessed," she said.

"Good horses make good trainers and I've had a lot of good horses in my yard."

Head-Maarek was assistant to her father Alec before starting off on her own in 1977.

Two years later she became the first female to saddle the winner of the Arc - Europe's most prestigious race - with Three Troikas, ridden by her brother Freddy and owned by her mother Ghislaine.

As well as her three Arc successes, Head-Maarek has won the French 1,000 Guineas seven times, the French Oaks three times and the 2,000 Guineas and Derby once apiece.

She has also won the English 1,000 Guineas four times, most recently with Special Duty in 2010.

Analysis

BBC racing reporter Frank Keogh

Racing fans will look back fondly on the career of training great Criquette Head-Maarek.

She enjoyed about 3,000 winners, including 80 at the top Group One level.

But as well as expertly handling equine stars like Arc winners Three Troikas and Treve, she has been a great character in the face of adversity.

She recovered from a brain tumour in 1990 and a cancer diagnosis 15 years later.

The daughter of trainer Alec began her career in the 1970s, when female role models in the sport were thin on the ground.

She told the BBC in 2015: "I always wanted to be a trainer since I was very small. My dad used to say: 'You'll marry a trainer, there's no woman trainer.' I achieved to be one, and then I achieved lots of winners."