The baby-faced assassin

IN THE SAME WAY it would be fair to describe the Pope as a holy man, Chris Hayes can easily be portrayed as ‘boyish.’

In fact so youthful does he look that when he occasionally comes across a Garda checkpoint in his top-of-the-range car, the inevitable inquiry is: ‘Is this your car?’ or ‘Does your father know you’re out in his car?’

Similarly, he can hardly go into a pub without being asked for identification, but what few people realise is that behind the baby-faced looks beats the heart of one of the most talented riders of this generation in Irish racing.