Iron man AP chases Hollywood ending on Box Office
THE final afternoon of AP McCoy’s career has arrived and he admits he is dreading it. For the peerless, 20-time champion jockey, what lies ahead could be an emotion-fuelled longest day of his life. It could also feel like the shortest day to a jockey whose routine has been winning races — lots of them.
When he drove away from Cheltenham last week after his final mounts at jump racing’s HQ, McCoy admitted to being tearful. Goodness knows how he will feel today.
There is a chance we may witness an Andy Murray moment. Tears in public would be one of the few firsts left for McCoy, racing’s iron man, to achieve.
The 40-year-old will have to settle for just a couple more mounts, both with fair chances and carrying the colours of his boss, owner JP McManus.
Life as a professional jockey for McCoy in a sport he has dominated will come to an end shortly after 4.30 when he rides Jonjo O’Neill-trained Box Office in the Bet365 Handicap Hurdle.
Nineteen rivals stand between McCoy and not only the 4,358th win of his career but the Hollywood ending many will be praying for. His other mount is Paul Nicholls-trained Mr Mole in the appropriately named AP McCoy Celebration Chase.
Watching McCoy over the weeks since he announced he was quitting in February has left one question buzzing around your head.
My colleague Martin Samuel posed it again yesterday: why is he going?
Former champion John Francome has even said he would not rule out a comeback but that would not be the McCoy way. Yesterday, he even echoed great Olympian Steve Redgrave when he said: ‘You can shoot me if I ride professionally again.’
But watching McCoy lift Un Ace to unlikely victory on his last-day riding at Ascot and galvanise Gilgamboa from an unpromising position to win the Ryanair Gold Cup at Fairyhouse’s Easter meeting inevitably makes you wonder.
AP McCoy (below, with his MBE) has not lost it. He hasn’t even begun to lose it. The problem is that we all know the answer, too. That same single-minded ruthlessness that propelled McCoy to telephone number records always meant he would know when he wanted to go out — at the top and with no hint his powers were waning to taint his legacy.
Perfection good, anything else very bad. That has always been the McCoy mantra and failure equals fear.
The debate over who is the best ever jockey is a never-ending, subjective one. There will be plenty of people who say colleague and friend Ruby Walsh has more sublime skills of horsemanship.
But where the debate edges into unequivocal territory is when it comes to the complete package. McCoy is the best jump jockey I have ever seen because of his combined skills. That includes a winning mentality that at times seemed about to push him over the edge. He has made sacrifices, pushed himself beyond limits and literally laid his body on the line. The injuries he has sustained have honed a pain threshold that has barely been breached. If he was a spy, torture would be pointless, the secrets would be retained. There were times in those early days when y ou wondered, looking
at the hollowed cheeks and dark, distant eyes, just how much he was enjoying his sporting life. Losing seemed so painful — especially on the big days — that it seemed to be pulling him apart.
But, with passing years and growing maturity, the ferocious will to succeed has been channelled with typical efficiency. McCoy never treated big days any differently to the mundane Monday rainy afternoon fixtures.
That was why he was the punters’ king. Mr One Hundred Per Cent every day of the week.
The 1,000th win of his career — Heros Fatal in November 1999 — may have been at Cheltenham, the home of jump racing, but it was entirely appropriate that numbers 2,000, 3,000 and 4,000 came at Market Rasen, Plumpton and Towcester, coalface tracks where AP McCoy always brought his A-game.
Courteous and amenable, McCoy was always one of the best interviewees, always supplying thoughtful responses. If part of his ‘after-life’ is working in the media, he will prove a valuable recruit.
McCoy admits he feels that he could still ride 5,000 winners if he carried on riding a few more years.
Of course he could. But who are we to question a jockey whose timing has always proved impeccable?