Joanna Morgan announces her retirement from training

The pioneer jockey and successful trainer Joanna Morgan has announced her retirement from training.

Morgan, 61, received the Hall of Fame Award at last month's Irish Times/Irish Sports Council Sportswoman of the Year ceremony after forty years as one of the most recognisable faces within Irish racing.

Ireland’s first professional jockey trained a Royal Ascot winner just two years ago but has decided to hand in her licence, saying she was “making a meagre living doing the work of two men and I just feel I’m not able to do that anymore.”

Co. Meath based Morgan's decision comes just days after Charlie Swan decided to quit his training career too.

Morgan told the “Racing Post”: “It wasn’t paying. I wasn’t going broke and if I got paid all the bad debts I was owed I would have made a nice few quid. But, c’est la vie, that’s training. The recession did hit, no doubt.”

During her riding career, Morgan made history by becoming the first woman to ride professionally at Royal Ascot and in an Irish classic and rode over two hundred winners in all.

She had concentrated solely on training since 1997.