Jockey Dylan Browne McMonagle ‘expected to make full recovery’ after being brought to hospital

Champion jockey Dylan Browne McMonagle faces “a number of weeks” out of action but is expected to make a full recovery after being taken to hospital following a fall from his mount in the opener at Bellewstown on Tuesday evening. Racing was subsequently abandoned at the Co Meath track after just two races due to three horses slipping on the surface.McMonagle fell from his mount Mosel in the opening maiden and racing was delayed as the jockey was examined. He was taken to hospital in Drogheda but was confirmed as conscious and was later reported to be moving all his limbs.A statement from the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board’s chief medical officer Dr Jennifer Pugh said on Tuesday night: “Dylan will be kept in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital overnight for further assessment and observation and will be out for a number of weeks but will make a full recovery.”READ MOREThe racing meet’s abandonment was a bitter blow for Bellewstown’s executive who were celebrating 300 years of racing at the track. Racing is also supposed to take place there tomorrow over jumps although Tuesday’s incidents will have to be reviewed first.Derby-winning jockey Emmet McNamara, secretary of the Irish Jockeys Association, gave an upbeat bulletin on Browne McMonagle to 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.“It’s horrible and it doesn’t get any less frightening when you see someone like him on the ground like that.“Obviously he is one of the more high-profile riders in the weighing room, very well respected and very well liked as well. None of us are invincible and neither is Dylan and please God he will be okay,” he said.McNamara also commented on the abandonment and said: “The team at Bellewstown did as much as they possibly could through sanding and trying rail realignments on the National Hunt ground where it was a little softer and maybe a little more traction on it.“I think after two races where there have been slips on the point of the bend it kind of spoke for itself and it was taken out of everyone’s hands that it had to be called off unfortunately.”“It’s disappointing for Bellewstown, but safety has to come first and once confidence was lost in that point of the track, I think the sensible decision was taken in the end.”Browne McMonagle has enjoyed a hugely successful season to date, highlighted by wins in the Epsom and Curragh Oaks on board Thundering On and Johanna Walsh respectively.On Saturday he rode a spectacular 723-1 five-timer. It took him to 61 winners for this season, just four behind the pacesetting Billy Lee.