Champion jockey Dylan Browne McMonagle taken to hospital after Bellewstown meeting abandoned
Dylan Browne McMonagle, the Irish champion jockey, was taken to hospital in Drogheda after his mount fell at Bellewstown on the opening day of the racecourse's 300th anniversary festival, while the remainder of the card was abandoned after a series of horse slips on the track.
Browne McMonagle, 23, was riding Joseph O'Brien-trained filly Mosel in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Median Auction Maiden, her second career start, when she went wrong just over a furlong from home and came down. Racing TV reported that Browne McMonagle was conscious when leaving the track and was taken to Drogheda hospital for further evaluation.
The incident occurred as racing at Bellewstown got underway, and was described by officials as an unconnected spill separate from the track conditions that later led to the abandonment.
The jockey's year has been a notable one. Fresh off a Saturday five-timer at the Curragh, which had come at combined odds of 723-1, Browne McMonagle completed an Oaks double on both sides of the Irish Sea aboard Thundering On and Johanna Walsh, at Epsom and the Curragh respectively. He also rode Limestone to win the Queen's Vase at Royal Ascot this year, alongside two seconds, and landed the Chester Cup on A Piece Of Heaven.
The set-back came against the backdrop of a racecourse that was abandoned after just two races when three horses slipped in the opening two contests, two of which came down. The first slippage involved the Ken Condon-trained Star Of Beauty, who slipped and stumbled at halfway but remained upright under jockey Billy Lee. A delay of around 30 minutes followed, as the ambulance was moved and officials sanded the areas of concern on the track.
As racing resumed for the second race, the Ploughman Bar & Grill Handicap, the surface again proved problematic, with Pettus Bridge and Distillate coming down at roughly the same point Star Of Beauty had stumbled. Both riders, Adam Caffrey and Ben Coen, and both horses were quickly up and on their feet.
It was at this point that officials decided to abandon the remainder of the card.
The Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board's head of communications, Niall Cronin, was quoted by Racing TV as saying: "It's very disappointing for everybody. A couple of riders made reports after the first race that it was a bit slippy in parts. Remedial work was carried out and a couple of riders went down. We proceeded to have a second race after a short delay, which involved sanding of the track."
"Unfortunately there was a similar incident in the second race and the raceday stewards considered the observations of the delegation of riders, trainers, racecourse management and the clerk of the course and unfortunately we were left with no other decision," he concluded.
The two-day festival was marking Bellewstown's 300th anniversary, but the evening was cut short after the two races were completed.
Racing Post reported that Browne McMonagle was stood down after his fall, and that his day was over. Racing TV also added that he was conscious when leaving the track en route to hospital.
A meeting that had begun with promise, heightened by the jockey's recent run of form, ended with immediate questions over the slick conditions of the track, the care of those involved, and the potential loss of the festival's first day. No official statement had come from the jockey's camp by the time of this report's writing, but the exact nature of the injuries has not been disclosed.