Poignant memories, warm and chill, will flood his mind before a fervent crowd attempts to lift him to a valedictory festival winner, or more, over the four days to add to his tally of 30. He’s just unbelievably talented.”, Bowing out: Legendary jockey Tony McCoy is quitting racing at the end of the season, Obsessive Arsene Wenger still giving nothing away, Tuesday morning news briefing: Manchester's shielding plea to Boris Johnson, Wales local lockdown rules as 'sharp, deep, two-week fire break' is announced, Women have a right to know what their male colleagues are earning. McCoy admits one day his achievements will be surpassed - but not yet! Getting to 1,000 winners in a career in Britain seemed out of reach for jump jockeys until Stan Mellor broke the mould when reaching four figures on Ouzo at Nottingham in December 1971. It was during the Troubles and we were in a Catholic area, but Billy Rock, who taught me to ride, was Protestant. He never allowed the inconvenience of a broken bone stop him getting back on the horse. I don’t think I wish I had done this or that. Which begs the question, will he be tempted out of retirement, like ageing members of a rock band, by the camaraderie and his addiction to this legal high? "I was a bit low for the next couple of days, so I think I'm going to have my moments. I love racing, and I’m probably the only person who is going to miss bouncing off the floor, like I’ve just done from Goodwood Mirage. It was my local track, my wife was only down the road. There are lots of mornings I wake up and wish I was still a jockey. I also miss the structure and discipline. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. “He’s just brilliant – what makes Ronaldo? "You're not boasting and saying you're going to be, but you'd like to be and aim to be - because that's the best you can be. Comments are subject to our community guidelines, which can be viewed, AP McCoy still misses the thrill of raceriding, Sir AP McCoy calls for sports promoter Hearn to run British Racing, Despite all the ups and downs - nothing will replace racing for the 20-time champ. I did enjoy it. Synchronised was in the Gold Cup, Wichita Lineman was a handicap, as great as it was. Born in County Antrim in 1974, McCoy broke virtually every record there was to be broken - and his iron will meant he bounced back from every adversity injury tried to throw at him along the way. I was born in County Antrim and my mum, Claire, who died in 2017, put me on a horse when I was three and that was it. I do now have more time to follow Arsenal, though, who have been my favourite club since I was five. I once had lunch with Martin McGuinness and the next day was at Ascot with the Queen. It’s a hobby. It happens so quick,” he says. “I can understand when I read about sportspeople suffering from depression and finding it tough when they give it up. "That is the most difficult thing about it because you're leaving when you're still enjoying what you do and at a time when you'd like to carry on, but sometimes you've got to do the right thing. Inside is he mouthing the Rolling Stones’ line: This may be the last time - I don’t know? This photo with my parents and siblings was taken here in Berkshire in 2015. He was as brave as they come, a man with an iron will, and an iron constitution. "I've looked up to leading sportspeople all my life. “The one thing I’d say to someone is to enjoy every moment. ap mccoy retirement. Yet he admits this sort of event “isn’t the same” as the intense, daily lifestyle of a jockey that propelled him to sporting immortality. Anthony Peter McCoy, universally known as 'AP’ has obliterated virtually ever record possible, from the quickest and highest amounts of winners achieved during a National Hunt season, to his career total, which stands at more than 4,000. Among his worst periods of confinement was after he had been unseated from Quantitativeeasing in April 2013 at Cheltenham. Synchronised was in the biggest race of them all. Instead he settled for achieving a double century. But not McCoy. He will continue until almost certainly becoming champion jockey for the 20th consecutive occasion at the end of the season with no crucial races, such as the Grand National, Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle, missing from his CV. “It’s a tough thing to say because I have seen colleagues get fatally injured, but I miss the danger. “He made me look good.”, His weighing room colleague JT McNamara’s fall on Galaxy Rock in 2013 which resulted in the Irish amateur jockey being paralysed from the neck down. Many a young rider struggles once losing his right to claim, and fails to confirm the promise of his early career. Nothing will ever replace it. I'm unusually tall for a jockey at 5'10'. Also number of times he punctured his lungs while riding, 3 - Number of Champion Hurdle winners he rode - Make A Stand (1997), Brave Inca (2006), Binocular (2010), 4 - The number of dinners he has eaten most weeks to keep his weight down to one and a half stones below his natural body weight, 13 - The number of broken bones he suffered, 14 - The number of teeth chipped or knocked out, 253 - The total of winners he rode in the 1997-98 season, beating the previous record of 221 by Peter Scudamore, 289 - His record number of winners in the 2001-02 season, which remains an all-time British horse racing record, surpassing the previous flat racing landmark of Gordon Richards of 269, 1,000 - The number of falls that McCoy estimates he has suffered during his career, 1,040 - The number of consecutive weeks McCoy has been number one. I’m not saying I wanted to suffer, but I wanted it to be at a time when I was still enjoying it. When I retired in 2015 I'd ridden in more than 18,000 races, which is like going round the world two and a half times. I wanted to go out as champion jockey. He rides Mr Mole in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, the horse he was sitting on when he announced his retirement plan. But he went to extreme lengths to ensure his recovery, including spending time enduring temperatures of minus 150 degrees during revolutionary kriotherapy treatment. Dancer, 19, who's stopped shaving insists body hair makes... Royals show their metal! “I didn’t think: ‘I wish I had gone racing that day when I didn’t’. That is the way you should depart, when you're at what you think is the top of your game. You can also choose to be emailed when someone replies to your comment. From his 1994/5 debut season in Britain, McCoy ruled the National Hunt game, bagging title after title to make him undisputed champion for the last 20 years, smashing records along the way and bouncing back from some serious spills with the minimum of fuss. His father Peadar may have been a joiner by profession but, like many in the Emerald Isle, he kept a few horses "as a hobby", his 'hobby' horses having included future Cheltenham Festival winner Thumbs Up.
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