A jury at the inquest in Cork into the death of jockey Michael O'Sullivan has returned a verdict of accidental death, after the hearing was told he suffered a severe traumatic brain injury in a fall at Thurles racetrack in February of last year.
The inquest heard that Mr O'Sullivan's horse, Wee Charlie, fell on him twice during a race and was kicking "in a panic" on top of him during the incident.
Mr O'Sullivan was 24 when he died on 16 February last year, a few days shy of his 25th birthday.
Described as an exceptionally talented young rider, his family told how he set his mind on becoming a jockey at a young age. Nothing was going to stop him achieving his goal, and it didn't.
He started his riding career at point-to-point meetings and, in 2019, was crowned champion under 21 rider.
The Cork man turned professional in 2022, after graduating from University College Dublin with an honours degree in agricultural science.
In his first full season, he won the title of champion claiming professional rider, along the way winning the Supreme Novices' Hurdle riding Marine Nationale on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival in 2023.
This morning, the jury at the inquest into his death at the Coroner's Court in Cork, watched his final race, where injuries he sustained in a fall at the last fence in Thurles on February 6 last year led to his death.
He was airlifted to Cork University Hospital, where he died 10 days later.
His family made the decision to donate his organs.
Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster told the inquest Michael O'Sullivan suffered a very severe traumatic brain injury and multiple fractures of his skull when he was one of four fallers at the final fence in a two-mile chase at Thurles.
Addressing Mr O'Sullivan's parents, William and Bernie, who attended the inquest, she said he would have been deeply comatosed by the fall, and wouldn't have suffered at all.
Jockey Sean Flanagan also rode in the race. He said the pace was slow early on, but the horses were going "flat out" as they approached the last fence.
Mr Flanagan was in front at the last, but his horse was also a faller at the fence. He said he thought he might have brought the other fallers down too but, on reviewing the race later he concluded that they had fallen "independently".
He said after he got up from the fall, he went back to see if he could help Michael O'Sullivan, who was still on the ground with Wee Charlie. He said he realised then that Mr O'Sullivan was seriously injured.
Mr Flanagan described the going on the day as good and said there were a number of horses in contention at the last. He said the position of the last fence sometimes changed, depending on the ground, but he didn't think the positioning of the last fence had anything to do with Michael O'Sullivan's fall.
Mr Flanagan said the previous fence had been moved back, before the final bend on the track, in 2020, after it was found to have the highest faller rate of any fence at any track in the country. He said that, prior to the move, the positioning of the second-last fence would have slowed horses on their approach to the last.
He said that on the day of Michael O'Sullivan's fall, they would have been travelling at around 39 miles per hour, or 63 kilometres per hour - "at the top end of the speed we would be going" - on the run-in to the last fence.
Jennifer Walsh of the Irish Horse Racing Board, which has overall responsibility for racetracks here, told the inquest of a critical incident review conducted by the board after Michael O'Sullivan's fall.
She said the review had found that the faller rate at the last fence had been more than halved to 2.2% as a result of on-track changes made at Thurles prior to this fall in February of last year.
She said video footage of the race was reviewed by the board's review team. She said Wee Charlie's hind quarters fell on Michael O'Sullivan, whose body was prone, in the initial fall, before the horse was struck by another horse and his front quarters then fell on Mr O'Sullivan.
Another jockey, Tiernan Roche, also fell at the last fence. He said the race was ran "as normal".
"There was nothing out of the ordinary or anything that caught my attention to cause that fall," he told the inquest.
He said you wouldn't see four fallers at the one fence every day, but it wasn't unusual either.
William Sweeney was an Order of Malta volunteer, positioned at the last fence. A cardiac first responder, he had been a volunteer at Thurles for 30 years. He attended to Michael O'Sullivan within seconds of his fall.
As the horses approached the last, he said he remembered remarking to himself: "there will be trouble here".
He said his experience meant that sometimes he could anticipate when there might be a faller, due to the way the horses were approaching the fence.
Mr Sweeney said he went to assist Michael O'Sullivan, after Wee Charlie had fallen on him and was on top of the jockey "kicking in a panic". Both the horse and Michael O'Sullivan had sustained injuries.
Gerald O'Leary, the owner and trainer of the horse, said Wee Charlie was an experienced seven-year-old national hunt horse, having started steeplechasing in November, 2023, at Goran Park in Kilkenny.
He described Wee Charlie as a "straightforward, sound horse with no vices".
Mr O'Leary also said Michael O'Sullivan was an experienced jockey at that stage. He said he was well familiar with Wee Charlie, having ridden the horse three times, winning on his first outing on the horse in Galway.
"They worked well together - they were a good team," Mr O'Leary said.
Irish Horse Racing Board Veterinary Officer Nicola O'Connor told the inquest jury she had conducted a pre-race assessment on Wee Charlie on the morning of the meeting and found that he was fit to race.
Justin Walsh, an inspector with the Health and Safety Authority, conducted an investigation into the fall. He said Michael O'Sullivan was wearing the correct safety equipment and he found no breaches of health and safety legislation during his investigation.
After deliberating briefly, the inquest jury returned a verdict of accidental death.
Coroner Philip Comyn said Michael O'Sullivan's death was a terrible tragedy, describing him as an up-and-coming jockey with a bright future.
He said racing was a great sport to watch and participate in, but it also carried risk.
