Racing: Cassidy relinquishes Cup mount as he fights illness

BRISBANE - Former Kiwi jockey Larry Cassidy is still suffering the effects from his recent bout of pneumonia and will visit a respiratory specialist on Monday week before he resumes riding.

Cassidy spent four days in Brisbane's Holy Spirit Hospital before being discharged last Friday.

He took ill while on a skiing holiday with his family at Perisher in the Snowy Mountains and had hoped to return to ride the Chris Waller-trained Bellagio Wynn in the rich Grafton Cup (2350m) tomorrow.

Hugh Bowman will now take the mount.

Cassidy has won the $200,000 Grafton Cup, the most valuable provincial race in NSW, three times.

"I'm still not feeling the best and I'm going to see my local GP tomorrow," Cassidy said last night.

"I have to have chest x-rays in 10 days before I see a respiratory specialist in Brisbane.

"I think I'm over the pneumonia but I'm worried I might still have a chest infection and I might need more antibiotics.

"I'm feeling a bit better but I'm very lethargic. That's what the doctors expected and they say it could take a month to get over it."

Cassidy' illness ended any plans he had of making a late challenge for Brisbane's riding honours this season.

The former Sydney-based Cassidy only started riding permanently in Brisbane in late January but such has been his dominance he is now third in the local premiership with 36 wins, 10 wins in arrears of leading rider Shane Scriven.

"This pneumonia has really hit me hard and I'm walking around just over 53 kilograms when I am normally around 55kg and 57 kg when I'm on holidays," Cassidy said.

"I don't think I've ever been this sick before in my life. The doctors in hospital gave me Tamiflu because they thought there was a possibility I had the swine flu.

"But they don't really know. The whole family has had the flu of some sort.

"I'm still a little short of breath when I walk but I'm hoping to resume riding trackwork on Monday and then I'll take a couple of rides at Doomben on July 29 which is the last meeting of the season."

Cassidy has had a stellar run in Brisbane, capping his move from Sydney with a group one Queensland Derby win on New Zealand stayer Court Ruler for his close mate John Wheeler.

- AAP