'I could have been really smashed up' - season is over for luckless Henry Brooke

Luckless jump jockey Henry Brooke is resigned to missing the rest of the season after breaking his neck for the second time in less than 18 months.

He revealed the news on the first anniversary of his emotional victory on Sam’s Adventure in the Eider Chase at Newcastle, which capped his recovery from a schooling fall that left him with three broken vertebrae and came within inches of leaving him paralysed.

Brooke's latest spell on the sidelines began when he took a third-flight fall in a hurdle race at Sedgefield on February 9.

"I've fractured a couple of vertebrae in my neck but it is the opposite side to last time," the jockey said.

"I'll be in a neck brace for six to eight weeks and it looks as though I’ll be out for the rest of the season."

At the time of his latest injury Brooke had ridden 27 winners in 2021-22, just two short of his total for last season, despite being out of action for a spell in the autumn when he broke five ribs and suffered a punctured and collapsed lung after a fall at Kelso.

"Things have been going all right and it’s disappointing to miss Cheltenham and the Grand National meeting," he added.

"But it could have been worse, I could have been really smashed up. And I have a lot of nice horses to look forward to riding when I come back next season."

Brooke, 31, has been particularly unlucky with injury in recent years and has been forced onto the sidelines in October for the last three seasons, just as the campaign got into full swing.

It was also in October of 2016 that Brooke suffered a frightening fall at Hexham, when he broke several bones and also had to be placed in an induced coma.

He has ridden over 400 winners since his first mount in a bumper in 2008 and was champion conditional jockey in 2011-12.

Read more:

'October clearly isn't my month' - another injury blow for Henry Brooke

Inches away from paralysis to winning the Eider - Henry Brooke's fairytale win

'I didn't think it was that serious' - broken neck sidelines Henry Brooke

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