Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he is deeply saddened at the death on Sunday of National Hunt jockey Michael O’Sullivan.
The 24-year-old Cheltenham festival winning rider died in Cork University Hospital 10 days after sustaining serious head injuries in a fall in Thurles.
He had been in intensive care in an induced coma having been airlifted from Thurles following a fall at the final fence of a handicap chase.
Racing in Ireland and further afield had been fearing the worst since the incident but the death of the rider from Lombardstown, near Mallow, Co Cork, who would have turned 25 this Friday, rocked the sport.
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Jockey Michael O’Sullivan (24) remembered as ‘very talented young man’ following death after fall at Thurles
“It’s dreadful news which puts all our problems into context,” said champion trainer Willie Mullins.
“He was here two mornings a week and was very much a part of the team at Closutton and his part here was only going to get bigger. He was such a natural rider who was very modest, friendly and understated.
“He had a great understanding of horses and racing and given the horse he was the man.
“I think Closutton will be a much poorer place without him and we, as a family, will miss him. He will be much missed in the yard, and we have his family in our thoughts and our prayers are for them now,” he added.
The Taoiseach also expressed his sympathies to O’Sullivan’s parents, Bernadette and William, and his brother Alan.
“Deeply saddened to learn of the tragic death of jockey Michael O’Sullivan. A talented rider who inspired many,” Mr Martin wrote on X. “My sincere sympathies go to Michael’s family, his friends and colleagues in the racing world.”
Racing was cancelled at Punchestown on Sunday in tribute to O’Sullivan, as were Sunday’s point-to-point dates.
O’Sullivan rode almost 100 winners during his short career and was Ireland’s champion conditional jockey in 2023 with 32 victories.
That season saw him complete a famous double on Day One of the Cheltenham Festival including riding Marine Nationale to success in the Grade One Supreme Novices Hurdle.
The Cork rider had turned professional after completing a degree in Agricultural Science at University College Dublin and was described as a “standout young man” by the former RTÉ racing pundit Ted Walsh.
“He was a very professional and very likeable young man and a real credit to his parents. Anyone would have loved to have had him as a son. He was a model of a young man with huge talent and it’s so sad.
“The last week or 10 days since we first heard of the bad accident at Thurles, it’s been just a cloud,” Walsh said.
The former British champion jockey AP McCoy described O’Sullivan as a “dedicated and very talented young man taken far too young.”
Andrew Coonan, secretary of the Irish Jockeys Association, said: “We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our colleague, Michael. Our heartfelt sympathies go out to his father, William, his mother, Bernadette, his brother, Alan and girlfriend, Charlotte.
“Jockeys face the risks of race-riding every day, but it is only when a tragedy like this befalls us that those full risks are truly realised.”
Horse Racing Ireland’s chief executive Suzanne Eade said: “Michael’s talent shone through for big-race success on National Hunt racing’s greatest stages. Michael was a gentleman. He was loved and respected by all who knew him, and everyone can be proud of his many achievements, both on and off the racecourse.”
Barry Connell, who owned and trained Marine Nationale to that supreme victory in 2023, recalled how his relationship with the rider began.
“I think in early 2022 he’d ridden one point-to-point winner for me before and we had Marine Nationale running in a bumper. We didn’t have an amateur at the time and Michael was a 7lb-claiming amateur, he rang for the ride, we said fine, and he won on the horse.
“We were very impressed with him so he came into the yard and started out riding a few days a week. We quickly decided Michael’s talent was very special and he got the job full time riding for us,” he said.
“He had a great partnership with the horse which culminated in the Supreme Novices, and it was fairytale stuff for both myself and Michael on a journey together with the horse,” said Connell.
