Middleham-based jockey Henry Brooke riding high with return to racing after serious injuries

North Yorkshire rider Henry Brooke, whose injuries were so serious he spent almost two hours being treated on the track at Hexham before the Great North Air Ambulance airlifted him to Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, on October 8, has passed stringent medical tests ahead of riding at Catterick on Wednesday.

The 25-year-old suffered extensive blood loss, fractured eight ribs and his right shoulder blade and suffered a punctured lung after falling at the second fence in the two-and-a-half-mile novice handicap chase on the North-East course.

Henry Brooke mounts a horse near his mother's training yard in Middleham

He said his rapid recovery to ride four-year-old filly Sophie Olivia for trainer Martin Todhunter was due to his burning desire to get back in the saddle and the actions of medical staff.

Mr Brooke said he was due to ride last year's winner Highland Lodge in the Betfred Becher Chase at Aintree on Saturday, a race he announced - to the disbelief of his Middleham trainer mother Julia Brooke - as his comeback target, immediately after coming out of the coma.

"I am absolutely buzzing to be back, but I was always going to come back to racing, however long it took. I feel fitter than I have ever felt and just want a few rides to get my eye in.

"It was a brilliant start to the season with 26 winners and as I have not been out too long, I am still on for a career best. It has been so hard watching from the sidelines. The hardest bit for any jockey is watching other people win on horses you think you would have ridden."

Henry Brooke, left, racing in July

Mr Brooke, who has been given the all-clear by James Cook University Hospital cardiothoracic consultant Jonathan Ferguson, said medics had told him he had been lucky as he had coughed up a lot of the blood from his lungs, but had suffered ill health for several weeks following the fall.

He added: "I lost a lot of weight, about a stone, in hospital in a week, and some of that was muscle wastage. I made them discharge me early because I was sick of being in hospital, but when I got home I found I couldn't control my temperature because of the trauma and my lungs. One moment I was freezing then next I was drenched in sweat."

The jump jockey said he had written to the Great North Air Ambulance to express his gratitude to the charity.

Henry Brooke's letter to the Great North Air Ambulance

He wrote: "I have no doubt whatsoever that the combined actions of the medical personnel on duty that day saved my life, and for that I and my family will be eternally grateful."

The National Hunt rider said he had received a huge amount of support from the North Yorkshire racing community and owed a debt of gratitude to staff at Jack Berry House rehabilitation and fitness centre for jockeys, which opened last year in Malton, and in particular to strength and conditioning coach Danny Hague.

"He has really put me through my paces", said Mr Brooke. "I wanted to be worked hard. We've been doing three or four sessions a day, each an hour long, pushing myself through the pain barriers. I must have a good pain threshold."