Kinane still critical

Chris Kinane, assistant trainer to Ian Williams, remains in a critical condition after receiving a kick to the head in the parade ring at Wolverhampton on Saturday night.

The 48-year-old was knocked unconscious and was taken initially to New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton, but later on Saturday night was transferred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham.

He underwent an operation and is now being looked after in the hospital’s neuro-critical care unit.

A spokesman confirmed his condition today as “critical”.

Williams said: “As far as I know he is still stable, but very poorly. The information I get is through his family and I look forward to them contacting me with some good news.

“As with all head injuries, patients are sedated, so he is unconscious, but that is irrelevant and the main thing is that he gets better.”

Kinane was kicked while getting ready to give Jamie Spencer the leg-up to ride the yard’s runner Not Amused in the Great Entertainment At Dunstall Park Handicap.

He joined Williams’s West Midlands stable in 2001, having previously been private trainer of the late Geoff Hubbard’s horses.

He saddled Strong Promise to finish third in the 2000 Cheltenham Gold Cup, and also spent a number of years working for Guy Harwood and Josh Gifford.