Dane O’Neill has been taken to hospital for further assessment after his fall from Eagle Eyed Tom in the opening race of Wolverhampton’s Tuesday card caused the contest to be voided.

The gelding, who is trained by Charlie Hills, seemed to stumble and clip heels when leaving the stalls for the Sky Sports Racing Sky 415 Handicap and unseated O’Neill in the first few moments of the contest.

The race was stopped abruptly before it could be completed and O’Neill was attended to on the track before being taken off on a stretcher.

There was an 11-minute delay to the following race, the Follow @AtTheRaces On Twitter Fillies’ Novice Stakes, as O’Neill was taken to hospital for further assessment.

Fergus Cameron, clerk of the course at Wolverhampton, said: “Dane sustained a fall after leaving the stalls in the first race, which was then voided.

“He was treated on track by our paramedics and was conscious throughout. He was then taken in an ambulance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham for further assessment.”

The stewards inquired into the incident and their report said: “The clerk of the course and the jockeys who had ridden in the race excluding Dane O’Neill, were interviewed.

“The clerk of the course explained that as the injured jockey was being attended to on the course in the home straight, and that it was not possible for the rest of the field to safely pass, the decision was made in conjunction with the head groundsman to initiate the ‘stop race’ procedure and deploy the ‘stop race’ flag. The stewards declared the race void.”

The next race on the card was won by Richard Hughes’ Value Added, owned by the King and Queen and ridden by William Buick.

The three-year-old was the 11-8 favourite and duly delivered when making almost all of the running to score by a length.

“We’ve always liked her but we’ve had one or two issue with the stalls,” Hughes told Sky Sports Racing.

“The last day she ran a good race at Windsor, it doesn’t suit all of them and she was a little bit lairy.

“She went around today lovely and I loved the way he kicked on her and she opened up, that’s important.

“I just loved the way she quickened today, she got her head down and she ran to the line good.”