Jockey Michael O’Sullivan remains in intensive care at Cork University Hospital following a serious fall at Thurles last week.
O’Sullivan was riding Wee Charlie for Gerard O’Leary last Thursday and was one of three fallers at the final fence in the two-mile Racing Again February 20th Handicap Chase, with two other runners badly hampered and unseating their riders.
The rest of the meeting was abandoned after the second race as the air ambulance arrived to take O’Sullivan to hospital, and it was later confirmed that he was being treated in the intensive care unit at Cork University Hospital.
He remains there and a Tuesday morning update on X from Dr Jennifer Pugh, chief medical officer of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board, said: “Michael continues to receive the best of care in the intensive care unit at Cork University Hospital.
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“Michael’s family remain overwhelmed by the support and well wishes they have received over the last number of days.”
O’Sullivan shot to prominence in 2023 when winning the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham aboard Marine Nationale, after also tasting Grade One glory with Barry Connell’s charge at Fairyhouse.
He had another winner at Cheltenham that year, making it an opening-day double when taking the Fred Winter with Jazzy Matty for Gordon Elliott, while the Connell-trained and owned Good Land was a Grade One scorer under O’Sullivan at the 2023 Dublin Racing Festival.
Meanwhile, Romantic Warrior is “99 per cent certain” to return to turf after trying a dirt surface for the first time in the Saudi Cup on Saturday week.
Danny Shum’s Hong Kong-based seven-year-old has plied his trade across the globe with great success, winning 18 times, with 10 of those victories coming at Group One level to make him the world’s highest-earning racehorse.
Most recently, he was the winner of the Jebel Hatta on Meydan’s turf course in late January, breaking the track record in the process of a four-and-a-half-length victory under James McDonald.
He is due to return to the same course for the Dubai Turf at Meydan’s World Cup meeting, but first he will try his hand on a dirt surface as the world’s most lucrative race, the Saudi Cup, beckons.
“Wherever we finish in the Saudi Cup, it is 99 per cent certain he will run next in the Dubai Turf,” Shum said.
“The Dubai Racing Club have already accepted my entry for the Dubai Turf but not the Dubai World Cup yet, as we want to see how Romantic Warrior finishes the race here, but he will almost certainly go for the turf race.
“James, Peter (Lau Pak Fai, owner) and I discussed about running first on dirt in the Al Maktoum Challenge and thought that might be better.
“Peter and I had a lunch meeting and he made a very good point. He said we should run on the turf in Dubai as he could have a (bad) experience on the dirt there, and that the Dubai and Saudi dirt is different. He could win or run really well in Dubai, but that doesn’t mean he can run well in Saudi.
“So, we went to the Jebel Hatta knowing we can win easily – and we will keep the dirt a secret. Maybe he will be very good on it, or maybe he can’t handle it – but we won’t be disappointed if he loses, so long as he is happy and sound.”
