A jury has returned a verdict of accidental death at the inquest of a Cheltenham-winning young Irish jockey who died from injuries sustained in a fall at a race meeting in Co Tipperary more than a year ago.
O’Sullivan (24), from Brittas, Lombardstown, Co Cork, suffered a fatal fall at the final fence in a two-mile handicap chase at Thurles Racecourse aboard Wee Charlie on February 6th, 2025. He was airlifted to Cork University Hospital but died there on February 16th from his injuries.
Trainer Gerard O’Leary told Cork City Coroner’s Court that O’Sullivan had begun riding for him in 2024 and that he formed a good team with Wee Charlie, who had raced over fences six times, hurdles 16 times and once on the flat.
Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) vet Nicola O’Connor told how she had carried out a pre-race assessment of Wee Charlie on the day. Although he had an episode of exercise-induced pulmonary haemorrhage in 2023, the horse was in good condition and “fit to race”.
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Jockey Sean Flanagan said he was leading the field of 13 runners after a slow start. They were approaching the last fence at full pace at about 62km/h, with several horses in contention, when he fell at the last fence.
When he got up, he saw there had been another two fallers and one rider unseated. He initially worried he might have fallen broadside and brought down the other riders, but when he viewed a video later, he saw they all fell independently, including O’Sullivan on Wee Charlie.
He said Thurles was “a sharp track” and while the IHRB had moved the second-last fence from the home straight back to before the turn in 2020 as it had the highest number of falls on Irish racetracks, he did not believe this was a factor in the fallers that day.
Order of Malta paramedic William Sweeney said he had over 30 years of experience attending at the last fence in Thurles. He recalled watching the horses coming down the straight and “they were really pushing it – I’ve done the fence many times and know when something is off”.
He said he saw the two horses fall some distance from the fence and a third horse fall after the fence. He went in when the horse handlers had removed the other horses and he saw the third horse was on top of O’Sullivan, kicking out in panic.
He attended to O’Sullivan and followed the instructions of a doctor to keep his head secure. When he removed O’Sullivan’s helmet, he applied pads and pressure to his ears which were bleeding. O’Sullivan was airlifted by helicopter to Cork University Hospital.
Assistant State pathologist Dr Margot Bolster said O’Sullivan had died as a result of severe traumatic brain injury complicated by brain swelling with cerebral infarction, but he would have lost consciousness immediately and not suffered.
Health and Safety Authority inspector Justin Walsh said he had examined O’Sullivan’s clothing and equipment and they met the required standards. He also said there was no issue with the course when the horses fell independently of each other and he found no breach of health and safety regulations.
“The chain reaction of independent falls, compounded by collisions, confirms that even optimal conditions and adherence to protocol cannot fully eliminate risk in steeplechasing’s dynamic environment.
“No single human, mechanical or environmental factor was identified as being at fault with the evidence, pointing instead to the inherent challenges of the sport,” said Walsh, who had also noted that weather conditions were suitable for racing.
Jennifer Walsh of the IHRB said the board had reviewed the incident and found all appropriate measures had been taken, in terms of checking the condition of the ground and the fences both before the declaration on February 3rd and on the morning of the racing.
She said the IHRB had reviewed a video of the race and found all four horses had fallen independently, with Flanagan’s mount Kazakh D’arthel falling first, followed by Wee Charlie, with O’Sullivan falling forward and his head impacting with a hind hoof of Flanagan’s horse.
At the same time, another horse, Get It Right ridden by Philip Enright, collided with the falling Wee Charlie as he passed him. This caused Wee Charlie, who later had to be euthanised, to land on top of O’Sullivan, who was prone on the ground.
Walsh said the IHRB had carried out a review of falls at the six-fence course before and after moving the second-last fence from the straight to before the turn. It found the move had reduced the number of falls significantly.
Between December 2016 and November 2020, there were 920 runners with 91 fallers, giving a fall rate of 9.9 per cent when the second-last fence was on the straight. However, between November 2020 and February 6th, 2025, there were 1,116 runners and 42 fallers, giving a fall rate of 3.8 per cent.
Walsh said first responders reached O’Sullivan within 14 seconds of the fall.
After the jury returned a verdict of accidental death, coroner Philip Comyn described O’Sullivan, who had ridden 95 winners in Ireland and Britain, as an “up and coming young rider who had a great future ahead of him”, and he extended his sympathy to O’Sullivan’s family.
