OLLIE RIDES AGAIN

OLLIE McPhail is on the comeback trail after an X- rated fall at the infamous Grand National fence The Chair that left him with a catalogue of serious facial injuries.

The 21-year-old jump jockey was kicked in the face at Aintree last April and had an agonising stay in hospital while doctors battled to save the sight in his right eye - and he ended up with 72 metal staples being inserted in his head.

Surgeons at Liverpool's Fazakerley Hospital worked round the clock on McPhail, actually performing the first operation as Earth Summit was galloping to glory in the world's greatest steeplechase.

Now, astonishingly, McPhail is fighting fit again and raring to get back in the saddle.

The jockey, who has been based with top trainer David Nicholson for the past three years, remembers the incident with blood-curdling clarity.

It left him in agony as the bone which held in his right eye- socket virtually disintegrated and his right cheekbone sustained so many multiple fractures that it was in splinters.

He recalls: "I was riding a horse called Blue Cheek in the Foxhunters Chase the day before the National. I wasn't nervous about those incredible fences as the horse had won the race the year before.

"But at The Chair two loose horses collided with us as we were in mid- air. Down we went - then in a split-second the rest of the field galloped all over me.

"One of the horses kicked me in the head and I was knocked out for a few minutes.

"When I came around I was in the ambulance - and that night the doctors did loads of X-rays and brain scans at the hospital.

"They found that the bed of my right eye-socket had gone, my cheekbone had all but disappeared and my eyelid was split down the middle and seemed to be flapping about."

But there was a protracted wait for the jockey after the first operation to clean up the injury and assess the damage, as the surgeons were powerless to continue due to the heavy bruising and swelling.

Exactly what the marathon seven-hour operation entailed is like a clip from a horror movie.

Surgeons had to make an incision over the top of McPhail's head to below each earlobe, in order to peel the skin off his head and face to carry out the meticulous work on the eye-socket and smashed cheekbone.

Chips of bone were removed from his skull to rebuild the socket while six metal plates - which are still in place - were inserted into his cheekbone.

Ollie recalls: "After the operation I had 72 metal staples placed from ear to ear over my head to help repair and reattach the skin.

"I had slight double vision for a while but my eye is fine now - and after this near- miracle I can't wait to get back into racecourse action. I've been riding out for a while and I feel good."

McPhail must wait for the green light from the Jockey Club's Chief Medical Officer, Dr Michael Turner - but that is expected in the very near future following a report from the hospital.

Having steered home 21 winners last season as an amateur, McPhail has now joined the paid ranks and will ride over jumps as a conditional (junior) jockey.

He says: "It would be very nice to win the conditional championship, but it will be a tough task with plenty of good young jockeys going for it.

"But I'm going to give it my best shot - I feel I owe that much to all the people who looked after me."

So what's his main target when he returns? Says McPhail: "To stay in one piece!"

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