Racing fans urge Cheltenham Festival name change in...

RACING fans are urging a Cheltenham Festival name change to honour late jockey Michael O'Sullivan. The sport is in mourning after the 24-year-old Festival-winning rider died in the early hours of Sunday morning. O'Sullivan burst into the big time with a day one double at Cheltenham in 2023. He won the curtain-raising Supreme Novices' Hurdle on trainer Barry Connell's 9-2 Marine Nationale. And followed it up with an 18-1 victory on Gordon Elliott's Jazzy Matty in the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle.

Image Credit: The Sun [Winning team of the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle.]

Cheltenham keeps some race names sacred but others are open to change. Last year's Mares' Novices' Hurdle was renamed in honour of Jack de Bromhead, the son of trainer Henry who died aged 13 in a pony racing accident. The Supreme is currently known as the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle. But punters are pleading with Festival bosses to rename it Michael O’Sullivan’s Supreme Novices' Hurdle to mark his greatest achievement in the saddle.

Racing in Ireland will come to a standstill this week to remember O'Sullivan. He suffered injuries in a final-fence fall at Thurles on February 6 and never regained consciousness. There will be no racing on Monday and Tuesday ahead of O'Sullivan's funeral in Cork on Wednesday. His family recently spoke of their pride in not just the jockey but the exceptional young man he had become. A post on rip.ie read: "On Sunday, February 16th, 2025 after a trojan battle to recover from injuries sustained in a fall, Michael died peacefully a few days short of his 25th birthday, surrounded by his heartbroken parents Bernie (née Goulding) and William, brother Alan, partner Charlotte and extended family.

"Michael had accomplished so much in his short life. "As a family we are so incredibly proud not only of his achievements in the saddle, but of the extraordinary young man he had become. "He was full of kindness, integrity, ambition and love, always striving to be the best person he could be. "Michael will be very sadly missed by Bernie, William, Alan, "Granny Mary", aunts Kathleen, Marie, Anne, Marguerite and Marie, uncles Connie, Willie, Sean, Andy, Patsy, Eugene, Patrick and Michael, aunt-in-laws, uncle-in-laws, cousins, Charlotte, his many friends as well as his weigh room colleagues and the wider racing community.".