O’Sullevan ‘perky’ after suffering mild stroke

SIR Peter O’Sullevan is in Charing Cross Hospital, London, after suffering a mild stroke on Sunday evening, said Nigel Payne, chief executive of the legendary former broadcaster’s charitable trust.

O’Sullevan, 95, is to undergo further tests in the next couple of days. Payne said: “Sir Peter had a mild stroke on Sunday night, which he detected himself. “He called the doctor and was admitted to hospital and is currently in the stroke unit.

“Geoffrey Hughes, a good friend of Sir Peter and the director of the Osborne Studio Gallery in London, has been to see him and tells me that although he is complaining of blurred vision, he was surprisingly perky. Sir Peter is due to have more tests today and tomorrow.” O’Sullevan, who celebrated his birthday earlier this month, is affectionately known as “the Voice of Racing” thanks to his work for the BBC. He commentated for the corporation from 1948 to 1997, when he called the Grand National for the 50th and final time, and closed his career with Suny Bay’s victory in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury.

O’Sullevan enjoyed great success as a racehorse owner and called home his winners Be Friendly in two Vernons Sprint Cups at Haydock in 1966 and 1967 and Attivo in the 1974 Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham. A successful punter, he was a well-known racing journalist for the Daily Express and was knighted in 1997. In the same year, the passionate supporter of animal welfare founded the Peter O’Sullevan Charitable Trust which has raised millions of pounds.

Mike Dillon, the PR director for Ladbrokes and a close friend of O’Sullevan, spoke from Charing Cross Hospital yesterday. He said: “I’m at the hospital and he’s gone for a walk round with the physio. He’s very lucid and seems fine.”

Meanwhile, weighing-room veteran Andrew Thornton believes trying to get the John Smith’s Grand National field to watch their speed in the early stages is easier said than done.

The problem of early pace is among new guidelines issued to riders by Aintree and the Professional Jockeys Association. Neither body wants a repeat of last year’s race when there were two false starts and two fatalities, including the death of Gold Cup winner Synchronised.

The start has been moved forward 90 yards further away from the stands in an attempt to keep the horses as calm as possible. To that end, horses will be sorted into number order in the paddock and not on the track before they parade.

Gold Cup-winning jockey Thornton is a PJA safety officer and has ridden regularly in the National since 1996. He said: “They say, ‘Slow down’, from the start but when you get 40 horses together, it’s not quite that easy. Personally, I don’t think there as been much of a problem at the start. It was the start last year because of what happened.

“A lot of horses were getting buzzed up because they had been down there a long time. It was circumstances. We are trying to solve a problem after what happened last year. We’ll tweak the parade as well and see how we get on.”