Is it a...? No, it’s Harry Haynes (From York Press)

Is it a...? No, it’s Harry Haynes

8:40am Friday 6th January 2012 in Turf Talk By Steve Carroll, Sports reporter

HARRY HAYNES is the sort of name that could leap straight out of the pages of any action comic – like Clark Kent or Peter Parker.

And as with that fictional pair, don’t be fooled to look at him. Like all jump jockeys, Haynes is a fully-fledged super hero.

It’s a job that should come with a Government health warning. Serious injury is an inevitable hazard, to the point where riding licences could come with images of woe attached – the kind of pictures that mimic the tar-stained lungs that dominate a packet of cigarettes.

They are a hardy breed.

After a fall at the Paddy Power meeting at Cheltenham in November 2008, Ruby Walsh had his spleen removed in an emergency operation. He was back in the saddle just 27 days later.

Tony McCoy, no stranger to hospital consultants, broke his ribs in a fall at Taunton last week and merely described himself as “kinda sore” after getting out of the ward.

Bravery, or idiocy, aside, they will ride following the kind of knocks that would keep mere mortals running to the doctor for a sick note.

Haynes is no different to the rare jump jockey breed.

Eight days after a crashing fall on board Bible Lord in the Topham Chase at Aintree last April, Haynes was back on Raining Horse in a handicap chase at Wetherby. But he wasn’t right and, when he and the horse parted in another heavy tumble, it was to have much more serious consequences.

“It was a very bad concussion at Aintree,” said the 22-year-old, who is currently riding for Norton trainer Malcolm Jefferson.

“I hadn’t really recovered but I did my concussion test with the British Horseracing Authority and I passed that and was passed fit to ride.

“I clearly wasn’t because I fell off very easily at Wetherby. All my balance had gone and I ended up with another bang to the head. I was out for four-and-a-half months.”

It was a long and frustrating road to recovery for the conditional, who enjoyed stints with Nicky Richards and James Ewart before travelling north to Jefferson’s Newstead Cottage yard. But, despite the severity of the injury, he never held any doubts that he wouldn’t be back riding.

“I probably had headaches for about three-and-a-half months and, for the first month, they were quite severe and all I wanted to do was sleep all day,” he added. “Basically, I just didn’t do anything.

“They got slightly better – they came and went slowly. It’s quite a long time, a month, to be having headaches every day. I was thinking ‘Is this it? Is this normal?’ I didn’t know if it was or not.

“I had the ache for so long but it eventually came right.

“And when it did, I knew I was right. People kept telling me that, but it just takes a long time. It was difficult.

“I knew after about three-and-a-half months (that he would definitely ride again). I just got myself fit and ready. I started riding out and I was feeling good about it. It just takes a bit of time to get back into race sharpness and the proper mental state.”

Haynes’ commitment got its rewards on Boxing Day when he landed the biggest win of his career as According To Pete pulled off a 33-1 shock to claim the Rowland Meyrick Chase at Wetherby.

It was his seventh winner since coming back from his injury and a prize that, as for all jump jockeys, justified why Haynes continually puts himself at risk.

“He’s (Jefferson) been very good to me from the start, really,” he explained. “I’ve been riding plenty for him and he’s given me the chance on this lad. I had ridden him twice previously, at Kelso and Haydock, and he just needed those runs to get fit.

“He’s a very difficult horse to get fit at home because he’s very laid-back. He has improved for those runs and, at Wetherby, he had no weight and he was very handy, looking to make it all the way.

“It all worked for him. He’s come down a lot in the weights and you could definitely have seen him running a nice race but, with his recent form, that was probably why his price was so big.

“It was a big race. This is what you do it for.

“You ride the day-to-day winners but these are the ones you want to be riding, on the big races and the big days. This is the most prestigious race I have won.

“I will keep going and hoping for the best – to ride a couple of nice winners. I can’t ask for much more.”