Culhane suffers collapsed lung

Tony Culhane will have to spend at least a week in hospital after a routine visit revealed that he had a collapsed lung.

The jockey had been complaining of breathing difficulties ever since being involved in a three-horse pile-up at Pontefract on Wednesday.

Originally it was thought that Culhane’s injuries were restricted to a broken right collarbone, however, he was told of his collapsed lung by a specialist assessing the injury.

“Tony was struggling to breathe on Thursday night,” Culhane’s wife Julie told the Racing Post.

“But he didn’t want to go to hospital then because he already had an appointment in the morning.

“He went in for x-rays, just to see how his collarbone was, and then it was realised he also has a collapsed lung.”

Culhane is hoping to move from Wakefield to a hospital closer to his family home in Thirsk, North Yorkshire.

“Whatever happens, the doctors think he will have to stay in for just over a week,” added his wife.

Shane Kelly, who has also been in the wars, underwent a two-and-a-half-hour operation on Friday on the leg he broke in three places in a fall at Bath on Tuesday.

Kelly fractured his thigh when unseated from Piano Player and faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines.