Aidan O’Brien’s daughter was airlifted to hospital yesterday after a fall at Killarney.
Ana O’Brien, 21, was injured when her mount Druids Cross slipped two furlongs out in the second race of the meeting. She was taken to hospital in an air ambulance and the extent of her injuries are unknown. Druids Cross, a three-year-old trained by Ana’s brother Joseph O’Brien, was fatally injured.
Ruby Walsh, the champion jockey, said: “I think the news was a bit better when she was leaving.” The clerk of the course confirmed that O’Brien was awake when she was placed into the helicopter. “Ana was conscious when she left the track and the air ambulance is bringing her to Cork University Hospital,” said Val O’Connell.
Earlier, a former jockey who had blamed a trainer for ordering him to “stop” a horse during a race three years ago yesterday retracted his evidence, claiming that he had been brainwashed.
The case involves Adam Carter who had alleged that John Wainwright, the trainer from Yorkshire, had told him not to ride the horse on its merits. Blazeofenchantment finished seventh in a handicap at Southwell in 2014.
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Giving evidence before an independent disciplinary hearing at the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), Carter said that he had provided his original account having been told that he would probably receive a more lenient punishment if he became a whistleblower.
He said that he was not telling the truth when making the statement. Carter is charged along with Wainwright and John Wright, who is not a registered or licensed person, with conspiring to commit a corrupt or fraudulent practice. Wainwright and Wright deny the charges. Two others, Paul Bradley and Peter Bennett, are alleged to have known of the conspiracy and used the information passed on by Carter to gain an advantage. They deny the charges.
Southwell stewards had referred the matter to the BHA but it was nine months later that he produced a statement claiming he had been told to stop. Carter said that he spoke to Bradley on race day but insisted that he did not tell him he was going to stop the horse.
Wainwright faces two charges of instructing Carter to stop the horse running on its merits. Carter faces three charges concerning whether he rode the horse on its merits, if he passed inside information to Bradley and/or Bennett and, if he did, whether he received any material reward.
The hearing continues today.