Larry Cassidy is in a Brisbane hospital suffering pneumonia, dashing plans for the jockey to make a return to the saddle at next week's Ramornie Handicap meeting at Grafton.Cassidy, who won the Group One Queensland Derby on the John Wheeler-trained Court Ruler at Eagle Farm last month, was admitted to Brisbane's Holy Spirit hospital after returning from a recent skiing holiday in the Snowy Mountains with his family."We spent four days at Perisher and I skied on the first day but I wasn't feeling
Larry Cassidy is in a Brisbane hospital suffering pneumonia, dashing plans for the jockey to make a return to the saddle at next week's Ramornie Handicap meeting at Grafton.
Cassidy, who won the Group One Queensland Derby on the John Wheeler-trained Court Ruler at Eagle Farm last month, was admitted to Brisbane's Holy Spirit hospital after returning from a recent skiing holiday in the Snowy Mountains with his family.
"We spent four days at Perisher and I skied on the first day but I wasn't feeling very well," Cassidy said from his hospital bed.
"I managed to ski again the following day but there was a blizzard the next day and we couldn't get out.
"I was sick for most of the time down there so we decided to come home and had a stopover for a night in Canberra and then in Sydney.
"The 'flu I had got worse by the time we got back home and it got into my blood stream and I've ended up in hospital.
"I've been quite ill but I'm hoping to be released on Friday."
Cassidy, who moved from Sydney to Queensland in January to continue his riding career, is currently third in the Brisbane jockeys' premiership with 36 wins, 10 wins behind leading rider Shane Scriven.
Scriven extended his lead following his victory on Sir Brilliant at Eagle Farm on Wednesday.
Prior to his illness, Cassidy had not given up the fight to win his first ever Brisbane premiership and was hopeful of making an impact over the final stages of the season.
"It's over now. I walk 50 metres and I'm out of breath," he said.
"But I regard myself as being lucky really.
"If I hadn't gone to hospital and the antibiotics didn't work it could have been far worse."