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McCoy is `helplessly addicted to success'
The day I stop being champion jockey is the day I quit...
He has been described as ``the greatest jumps jockey to have set foot on a racetrack’’, one who is ``helplessly addicted to success’’.
JUST like a cricketer two runs shy of a century, UK champion jumps jockey Anthony Peter (``AP’’) McCoy MBE (left) made heavy weather of recording his 3000th success, but eventually achieved that milestone at Plumpton last Monday, 9 February, aboard Nicky Henderson-trained Restless D'Artaix. Eight days later, his winning tally stands at 3005 - nearly twice the previous record.
Phumelela’s racing executive Patrick Davis was CEO of Plumpton for several years and, as one of McCoy’s greatest fans, is ecstatic that ``AP’s landmark win’’ came at ``his’’ course.
Said Davis: ``He’s one of my heroes. He rode 126 winners at Plumpton while I was there. It was always a great privilege to get the `David Beckham’ of racing to our small track.
``He’s often criticised as being unapproachable, but that’s because he’s so competitive. AP is always so focussed. He’s the bravest sportsman I’ve ever witnessed. He’s an amazing, amazing man.’’
The 1.8m-tall rider, who weighs around 65kg and regularly fasts for days to make the required weight for races, is known for pushing himself and his mounts to the limit. The pale, gaunt man is generally viewed as an ``obsessive harvester of winners’’. However, as single-minded and ruthless as he is on the track, he is the opposite off it, conducting himself with humility, decency and integrity - and as ``a non-smoking teetotal ascetic’’, he can be the life and soul of any party.
According to a Times Online article, McCoy does not regard himself as a natural talent in the way of Ruby Walsh or John Francome. ``There are people who have more talent,’’ he says. ``But what is a more natural sportsman than someone who wins all the time. The biggest talent is working hard and having mental strength.’’
None can doubt his work ethic or resilience and last year he told The Independent: ``You live in constant fear of failure. When you've got to the top of your profession, there's no other way but down.’’
Born on 4 May 1974 in Northern Ireland, McCoy’s first win came aboard long-shot Legal Steps for Jim Bolger at Thurles on 26 March 1992. Two years later, he moved across the Irish Sea and claimed his first victory in England at Exeter on 7 September 1994. He hasn’t looked back.
A remarkable man, he has enjoyed many landmark moments:
- 2914 jumps winners in Britain; the others in Ireland
- 1921 days (just over five years, the fastest in history) to reach the 1000-winner milestone in Britain
- 2001-02 his best season - he rode 289 winners and broke Sir Gordon Richards’ 54-year-old record
- 20 winners at the Cheltenham Festival (a record-equalling five in 1998)
- 13 championships, holding the record, and champion jumps jockey every year since 1995-96
- nine winners on the flat (six in Ireland, three in Britain)
- sixth on the all-time British jockeys’ list behind Richards, Pat Eddery and Lester Piggott, who all rode into their 50s, as well as Willie Carson and Doug Smith
More than a third of his winners came courtesy of Martin Pipe, for whom he rode for almost a decade. He is currently employed by high-profile owner JP McManus and affiliated to ex-jumps jockey Jonjo O’Neil, who won the jumps jockey title twice and retired with 885 winners.
His gravest disappointment has been sometimes not getting top rides at the major fixtures. He told Times Online: ``One thing I admire about Lester Piggott is the way he always got on the best horse. He wasn’t a popular person for that, but I think I could cope with that. I don’t want to sound as if I have a divine right to be riding everything, but you’d like to be asked.’’
McCoy, who has two autobiographies on the market - ``Real McCoy: My Life So Far’’ and ``McCoy’’ released in 1999 and 2003 respectively - has had more than his fair share of injuries, breaking nearly every bone in his body at one time or another. Last year he had to learn to walk again after breaking his back in a fall. Seven weeks later he rode at the Cheltenham Festival.
But he is not thinking of retiring soon - he has hinted at another decade in the saddle. Given that it takes him roughly five years to ride 1000 winners, he could get to his 4000th victory in 2014 and the 5000th in 2019. That’s not to say he won’t quit sooner. He told Times Online: ``My biggest fear is going on longer than I should have done.’’
So he’s in the process of securing his future. He and his wife Chanelle are building a training yard near Lambourn where they live with their daughter Eve. But before that he has two remaining ambitions: to ride 300 winners in a season and win the Grand National.
Sources: Insider Edge; The Independent; The Guardian UK; Times Online
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