sport
Share icon

Share

Bellewstown race abandoned after jockey taken to hospital

Published 11:07 26 Aug 2026 BST

Updated 11:07 26 Aug 2026 BST

Christian Buschardt
Bellewstown race abandoned after jockey taken to hospital

Homesport

Why the Bellewstown card was called off

Racing at Bellewstown was abandoned on Tuesday evening as jockey Dylan Browne McMonagle was hospitalised in Drogheda after a fall in the opening race of the Co Meath track’s 300th anniversary meeting.

The 23 year-old was sent crashing to the turf when his mount Mosel fell a furlong from home in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Median Auction Maiden while mounting a challenge.

The second race went off around 30 minutes late after ground staff sanded areas of concern on the track.

That one-mile handicap then saw two more falls, in an area seemingly unconnected to the one that affected Browne McMonagle.

However, both riders and horses were quickly back on their feet.

A slight stumble in the first race had come in a similar area, and the stewards pulled the rest of the card.

RTÉ Sport and The 42 both reported that the jockey was taken to Drogheda for assessment.

The Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board put out a statement on X:

"Having reviewed the footage and considered the observations, as well as the remedial work carried out following Race 1, the Raceday Stewards, in the interest of safety for both horse and rider, made the decision to abandon the remainder of the card under the provisions of Rule 10."

Emmet McNamara of the Irish Jockeys Association told Racing TV: “I was down there with him soon after he got his fall and our thoughts are with him.

"Please God everything will be fine, he was moving everything.”

Browne McMonagle has been the story of the Irish flat season, a summer that ran through the festival circuit to the Galway Races: an Oaks double at Epsom and the Curragh aboard Thundering On and Johanna Walsh, and a 723-1 five-timer at the Curragh as recently as Saturday.