Tony McCoy claims a burning desire to ride 300 winners in a jumps season blinded his judgement over how he handled a recent injury.
The 19-times British champion jockey was initially sidelined for a short spell after taking a crashing fall from at Worcester on October 9, but aggravated an old rib injury at Exeter earlier this month.
He rode at Chepstow the following day, but finally decided to take a couple of weeks off to fully recuperate.
McCoy remains out of action, with a midweek return pencilled in as a starting point ahead of next weekend's Hennessy fixture at Newbury, where he is likely to partner More Of That in the Long Distance Hurdle.
The 40-year-old Northern Irishman accepted what is now a near-impossible dream of reaching the 300-winner landmark prevented him from taking more time off.
He told At The Races: "I wasn't in great shape, but I'm a lot better now. It was bad, but you only get so many chances to ride 300 winners.
"I probably struggled more mentally than I did physically - that was the problem. It was more mentally tougher to give up than it was physically.
"I could have done everything that a doctor wanted to me, but it was purely mind over matter. I had myself convinced I couldn't afford to have time off."
