Cork jockey cut a notably composed figure both on and off the track
Michael O’Sullivan death: Rarely has toll racing can take seemed more brutal than in loss of accomplished riderMaybe in time there will be some sliver of consolation for Michael O’Sullivan’s family that he packed so much accomplishment into his tragically short life which ended when the 24-year-old Cheltenham Festival winning jockey died on Sunday morning.
The threat of injury, sometimes of catastrophic extent, are a reality of any life spent with racehorses. But in the heat of competition, it is impossible for anyone to have that reality at the forefront of their thoughts.Not dwelling on the danger and instead relishing the incomparable excitement that comes with riding thoroughbreds is a common denominator in jockeys’ rooms around the world. They truly are a different breed.
But growing up he would have also witnessed anguish. In 2011 Jack Tyner died of injuries sustained in a point-to-point. A couple of years later John Thomas McNamara sustained catastrophic injuries at the Cheltenham Festival that ultimately claimed his life in 2016. In 2006, Dary Cullen was killed in a point-to-point fall.
Growing up on his parent’s dairy farm near Mallow, Co Cork, O’Sullivan was no more immune to that pull than any other rider. Like so many others he dreamed of being a jockey and winning on the sport’s biggest stages, although he was too bright not to recognise the peril that comes with it. Dublin businessman Barry Connell was more impressed than most. The owner-trainer took the rare decision to make the conditional rider his retained jockey. Connell’s string was relatively small but exclusive and it contained an elegant young prospect in Marine Nationale.
Just a few months later the partnership struck Cheltenham Festival gold in the Supreme Novices Hurdle. Later that momentous day, O’Sullivan also scored on the Gordon Elliott trained outsider Jazzy Matty.
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