McCoy braced for final hurdle
AP McCOY has conceded he will enter tomorrow’s Crabbie’s Grand National with mixed emotions after vowing to retire immediately if he wins the £1million race on favourite Shutthefrontdoor.
The 19-time champion, winner of the 2010 National on Don’t Push It and yesterday inducted into the Aintree Hall of Fame, was speaking after securing a 13-length win in the Grade One Doom Bar Aintree Hurdle on Jezki.
Bookmakers fear a victory for McCoy’s mount, claiming the accompanying landslide of support could lead to losses of around £50million if McCoy wins.
‘I am just trying to keep it as normal as possible and concentrate on my job,’ said McCoy. ‘No doubt the thinking and worrying will be done on Saturday.
‘I am not sure whether I want it to be the last time I ride or not — I have a little bit of mixed emotions. I want to win the Grand National but I don’t really want to retire.’
Asked how he will feel walking through the Aintree gates tomorrow, McCoy added: ‘It will be a lot more difficult when I am walking out through them in the evening because that could be the end. It is something I never wanted to think about but if I don’t win the Grand National, there is only two- and-a-half weeks left.’
McCoy will retire on the last day of the season at Sandown on April 25 if he does not win tomorrow.
Having endured disappointment on Hargam and Holywell, McCoy secured his first victory of the meeting on Jezki. But the Jessica Harrington-trained seven-yearold was locked in battle with Arctic Fire before Ruby Walsh’s mount took a crashing fall at the last hurdle.
‘I thought at 100 yards from the last hurdle Ruby might have me beat and then 50 yards from the hurdle I was sticking in there and Jezki was always going to stay, he is bred to,’ said McCoy.
‘Whether he would have won or not I don’t know but he would have made a fair race of it.’
Meanwhile, champion trainer Paul Nicholls has hinted at a future shot at the Grand National with Silviniaco Conti after the gelding again showed his liking for a flat track by winning the Betfred Bowl for a second year running.
NINA CARBERRY, who rides First Lieutenant in the National, became the fourth female rider to win the Fox Hunters’ Chase when successful on Enda Bolger’s On The Fringe.