Tony McCoy - The Legend -

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McCoy announces retirement plan .. (Sat 7th Feb 2015)

Tony McCoy stunned the racing world as he announced he is to retire from racing at the end of the season.
Just minutes after Mr Mole gave McCoy his 200th winner of the season as Sire De Grugy unseated three out in an incident-packed Betfair Price Rush Chase at Newbury, the champion jockey told Channel 4 Racing of his intention to stop riding.

Not seen since following up his Champion Chase success at Sandown last April, the Gary Moore-trained Sire De Grugy was sent off at odds-on but made a bad mistake four from home before parting company with Jamie Moore at the next.

That left a simple task for Mr Mole, who will test his credentials at the top level in the two-mile championship next month.

All that was overshadowed, however, when 40-year-old McCoy revealed his retirement plan.

"It's going to be the last time I ride 200 winners," he said.

"Having spoken to Dave (Roberts, agent) and JP McManus (retaining owner), I am going to be retiring at the end of the season."

McCoy, who is 79 wins ahead of nearest rival Richard Johnson this season, continued: "I want to go out at the top, I want to go out as champion jockey and it will be my 20th year if I can win the jockeys' championship.

"I want to go out while I still enjoy riding and am still relatively at the top.

"Dave Roberts and JP McManus were the only ones who knew, I got Dave to my house and Chanelle (McCoy's wife) didn't even know what the conversation was going to be about.

"We decided that the right thing to do was to retire at the end of the season, but to announce it before the end of the season.

"We thought that to ride 200 winners was a good achievement and a good time to announce it.

"Dave and JP thought it would be a good idea to announce before I just give up.

"It will be business as usual until the end of the season and I will let myself enjoy it more."

Mrs McCoy said: "It's a decision he's battled with very much, some days he's at peace with it and some days he's sad. It will be great for him to go out on a high and hopefully we will get him out in one piece."

She went on: "It's a very big decision and a decision like that he has to live with, so he has to make it himself.

"He knew my preference for him to retire at the end of the season, but I never pushed him. He's very much his own man and he makes up his own mind."

Winner of virtually every big prize there is in racing, including the Grand National, Gold Cup, Champion Chase and Champion Hurdle, McCoy said that "time waits for no man in sport".

He said: "I have been very lucky to have a great way of life for the last 25 years.

"It was something that was always in the back of my mind, I wanted to retire while I was champion jockey and I thought 20 championships was a good number. Time waits for no man in sport. It's not going to wait for me.

"I think all of the decisions in my life I have made myself, I'm lucky that I've had really good people to bounce things off.

"I think to become a jockey was the best decision I made. I've had a great way of life.

"My mum and dad have no idea, I think they wanted me to retire so I thought they'd get more satisfaction hearing about it on the television.

"I love riding and the thrill of it, it's what has challenged me for the last 25 years so I will miss it.

"I'll never find anything that will replace that buzz, but I'm aware in sport that you can't go on forever.

"There's so many people to thank - my mum and dad, the late Billy Rock, the late Toby Balding and his wife, Jim Bolger, JP and Noreen (McManus) have been fantastic.

"All the horses, the stable lads, all the ambulance drivers and the doctors that have picked me up so many times over the years.

"The lads in the weighing room who have been great colleagues, the lads that have driven me around the country and the valets that have looked after me every day.

"There's so many people for me to thank, and obviously Dave Roberts who has been with me from the day I've been here. A lot of people have made it possible."

Frank Berry, racing manager to McManus, said: "You have to be very proud of him, he's been a great man to work with and we've had a great time together. It's always sad when it comes, but that's part of it and I hope now he stays in one piece and goes out at the top.

"He didn't say much about it, he'd be making up his own mind - I'm sure him and the boss had discussions and it's always difficult when things are going well. He's been fantastic and it will have been a tough decision.

"He's been having a fantastic season and it's always difficult when things are going well. Like everything, things come to an end.

"He has been a great ambassador for us and the sport of racing, he's very kind to people.

"You couldn't say enough good things about him."

Asked about a possible replacement in the role of number one to McManus, Berry said: "It's only landed on us this week, everything is up in the air."

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Ruby Walsh hails McCoy's legacy


AP McCoy's weighing-room colleagues hailed the rider's legacy after the 19-time champion announced his decision to quit.


McCoy's great rival Ruby Walsh was among the first to hail the departing champion's legacy after he had announced after riding a 200th winner of the season at Newbury, that this would be his last season in the saddle.

Walsh said: "The biggest decisions are the hardest decisions, but that's not anything that AP has ever been afraid of.

"It is wonderful that you could have the career AP has had, but it was a big call and only he could have known that the time was right.

"He is the consummate professional and has done everything that is good for racing.

"He's been a wonderful ambassador for racing and an incredible jockey and all I think of is that it was an honour and a priviledge. He was so damn good that he always made you try harder.

"However many winners he has ridden, I don't know, too many to count... to say you rode with him. He has set standards and targets that are going to be in the history books for a long, long time and to say 'I rode against him and I beat him the odd time too' is a priviledge.

"He's just brilliant. What makes Messi? What makes Ronaldo? What made Federer? They're just unbelievably talented.

"It's kind of strange to say when someone is so good, but I'll probably miss riding against him. Definitely."

Champion trainer Paul Nicholls heard the news along with everyone else, after McCoy has made it 200 for season aboard his Betway Champion Chase possible Mr Mole.

He said: "It's a pleasure to have had anything to do with him and it was a peach of a ride he gave Mr Mole.

"He's been a great ambassador for the sport and no one can say enough about him.

"It doesn't surprise me totally as one day you have to make a decision. He's probably decided that's the right one, and everyone knows where they are.

"Everyone will miss him riding as he's been such a legend, but you can't go on forever.

"He's still riding as well as he's ever ridden and it's probably the right time to go out.

"Toby Balding once told me to use him as claimer, that he was the best he ever had. I always remember those words.

"We didn't have enough horses to keep him at the time and he went and rode all those winners for Martin Pipe. He's just been fantastic. He's a great guy to deal with and a brilliant jockey."

Tom Scudamore, another jockey on the mark at Newbury, has known McCoy since even before he started riding.

"As a teenager, he was an inspiration, and as a professional jockey he's the toughest rival you could ever wish for," he said.

"He's an unbelievably talented man who set the highest standards and his achievements are going to be in the record books for a long, long time. Having said that, from a personal perspective, I'll be pleased to see the back of him!"

Paul Struthers, boss of the Professional Jockeys Association, described the professionalism of McCoy that non-jockeys don't get to see.

"As well as being President, he's served on the board for at least a decade, and not once have I failed to be impressed with his dedication to the job," he said.

"He's never missed a single board meeting, despite all of his other commitments, and every decision he takes is done for the benefit of racing overall rather than thinking of himself."

Top trainer Nicky Henderson regularly calls on the services of McCoy, particularly for horse owned by JP McManus.

Among their biggest successes was Binocular in the 2010 Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Henderson said: "We have had some great times with a lot of very good horses, mostly for JP but some others as well.

"It's absolutely incredible that he has managed to win 19 championships when you take that in the context of all other sports - it's right out there on its own. It couldn't happen in another discipline.

"What you have to remember is that this isn't ping pong, it is a tough, rough, exhausting and gruelling sport.

"He is a credit to racing and I am very sad that his career is going to come to an end.

McCoy's longstanding agent, Dave Roberts, said he had first been told of McCoy's intention to quit when the pair met on Monday evening.

"We had a long, long talk, and if he's happy, then so am I," he said. "The main thing is that he is at peace with the decision. That's the most important thing. It's the right time." ..

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McCoy - I've over achieved .. Sun 8th Feb 2015

Retiring champion jockey Tony McCoy believes he has over achieved in his career.
Barring injury McCoy will be crowned champion jockey for an unbelievable 20th successive year.

So dominant has he been throughout his time in the saddle that since turning professional in 1995 he has known nothing other than being the pre-eminent jockey of his generation, and prior to that he was the champion conditional jockey on his only other season in England.

He has not just broken records set by other jockeys, he has obliterated them, but the modest North Irishman feels his success is more down to hard work than talent.

Speaking to talkSPORT, McCoy said: "It will be something that I'll really miss, there's no doubt about that.

"I've no regrets whatsoever because I really think I've over achieved to be honest. I think there's been as many good jockeys as I have been, not being arrogant I think I've done well for myself.

"A lot of what I've achieved has just been through working hard and the fear I might never achieve them again and that's probably what is making me retire, the thought it might never happen again."

McCoy announced his intention to retire after riding his 200th winner of the season on Mr Mole in the Grade Two Game Spirit Chase live on Channel 4 Racing, but he admits even then he was still wondering if the decision was the right one.

"Dave Roberts (agent) was waiting when Mr Mole pulled up and asked if I was OK and I had to ask him if it was the right thing to do even then, so I was having second thoughts even at that point," said McCoy.

"It is the right thing, though.

"I'd been thinking about it for some time. When I was asked I jokingly said I'd been thinking about it for five years but it was then when I set my benchmark of winning the title 20 times and that was always in my head.

"So in some ways I had sort of decided then."

McCoy had one unconquered frontier as he wanted to ride 300 winners in one season, his Holy Grail, and this year it looked on until a bad injury he picked up in early October at Worcester put paid to it.

"I've been very lucky, I had a very good start to the season this year, my fastest 50th and 100th winners and I genuinely thought I was going to ride 300 winners this season," he said.

"Then I got injured one day at Worcester, I dislocated my collar bone, broke two ribs and punctured my lung and I went back riding three days after that thinking I couldn't afford to have any time off if I was going to ride 300 winners.

"I got another fall and dislocated again and it was just a disaster so I had to have three weeks off. Through those three weeks I was a bit broken mentally, to be honest, as I'd got to the point where I'd won the championship for coming up 20 years yet I genuinely believed I was getting better.

"When that happened the time had sort of come but I wanted to make sure I was going to win another championship first and in the last week or so, getting closer to 200 winners, I'd spoken to JP (McManus, retained owner) about it and Dave and I decided it would be good to announce it after riding 200 winners as that is a bit of an achievement and I wanted to announce it on a high.

"Most of all I wanted to retire when I was champion jockey, I've spent 20 years of my life chasing it and I'm still as I want to be and maybe I just need a break from that.

"When I got injured and realised 300 had gone I suppose that told me. Riding 200 is a big thing, only a handful of people have ever done it before, Peter Scudamore was the only jump jockey. I'm not one to blow my own trumpet but it's not an easy thing to do. You have to stay in one piece but most of the time you're not in one piece, it's mind over matter.

"For anyone to have longevity in sport you have to really enjoy it and I do, but there's been times it has drove me mad and I've been sitting in a dark room wondering what is going on in my life.

"I've always felt I could never get where I wanted to go, chasing something I could never catch but I think the time is right.

"I don't know what I'm going to do, it's something I've never thought about because all I ever wanted to do was be a jockey and I always said I'd never think about it until I couldn't do that any more.

"I honestly don't know when I'll stop. I decided this would be my last season and Dave said I should announce it beforehand. Other things were discussed like going out on a winner but I honestly don't know.

"I'll ride at Cheltenham and Aintree but after that I don't know whether it will be the last day of the season or go out on a winner, we'll get the big meetings out of the way first.

"After I'd announced it I was gutted. I'd love to change my name and come back next season, minding my own business having another go but I think it's important that I'll be champion jockey for hopefully 20 years and I think it's important to retire at the top rather than people asking me why I'm not winning.

"Falling at the first in the next (on Goodwood Mirage) was a real leveller, it's part and parcel of the game."

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Fergie: AP humility a champion trait .. Feb 9th - 2015

Sir Alex Ferguson has paid tribute to AP McCoy following his decision to retire by the end of the season.

The former Manchester United manager added his tribute to McCoy after the 19-time champion jockey won the Irish Hennessy for the first time on Sunday, aboard Carlingford Lough.

Speaking to the Yorkshire Post, Ferguson said: "I am pleased that Tony has picked his moment to decide when it is right for him to retire.

"Only people who have had to live with great expectations can understand why they should go out at the top. That expectation is indescribable, losing was never an option for Tony. Only winning mattered.

"It drove him through injury after injury on the quest to be the best ever. As he approaches the winning post in his career, he goes with the best accolade and that is the success never changed him.

"I believe that only true champions understand the value of humility and that is what stands out in the character of Tony McCoy. He has always kept his feet on the ground; his feats in becoming the greatest National Hunt jockey of all time will be forged on our memory as long as we can all remember. Well done."


Sir Alex Ferguson "I believe that only true champions understand the value of humility and that is what stands out in the character of Tony McCoy. He has always kept his feet on the ground."


Meanwhile, McCoy's fairytale success on Carlingford Lough at Leopardstown on Sunday was one that the soon-to-retire rider has said he "will never forget".

A little over 24 hours after he had stunned racing with his retirement announcement following his 200th winner of the season on Mr Mole at Newbury, McCoy was at the Dublin track where he drove the John Kiely-trained Carlingford Lough to an emotionally-charged triumph.

He returned to thunderous applause in the winner's enclosure and was clearly moved by the reception he was afforded.

McCoy tweeted on Monday morning: "Thanks to everyone who was @LeopardstownRC yesterday it made the day very special.

"Walking into winner's enclosure after winning Irish Hennessy was a day I'll miss so much but will never forget #CarlingfordLough."

McCoy also won on the Leopardstown card aboard Sort It Out, who like Carlingford Lough runs in the colours of his boss JP McManus

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.The Tony McCoy Interview .. http://youtu.be/pQ2z9yloSBg .

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Grand gesture for McCoy

Tony McCoy says it is "a privilege" to have a race named in his honour at his final Cheltenham Festival before retirement.


The final race of the meeting will this year be run as the A P McCoy Grand Annual Handicap Chase for the Johnny Henderson Challenge Cup after the racecourse management decided to mark the departure of the 19-times champion jockey with a contest bearing his name.

The new title for 2015 has been made in agreement with the Henderson family.

McCoy said: "I am honoured that Cheltenham has decided to have the last race of the Festival in my name.

"It is a privilege and I would also like to thank the Henderson family for sharing the title for this year. I am much looking forward to next week."

The race will provide McCoy with one final chance of Festival success in a contest he has won three times before on Alderwood (2013), Edredon Bleu (1998) and Kibreet (1996), who was his first winner at the meeting.

Robert Waley-Cohen, chairman of Cheltenham, said: "I am delighted that we have been able to rename this year's Grand Annual Handicap Chase after the champion jockey, especially as it will be his last race at the Festival.

"What he has achieved over the past 23 years, not just at the Festival, is phenomenal and to round off the Festival in his name seemed like a fitting tribute."

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Synchronised leads McCoy favourites

Tony McCoy has nominated 2012 Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Synchronised as his favourite mount during his illustrious career. The Jonjo O'Neill-trained runner outstayed his rivals at Prestbury Park to land the blue riband for McCoy's employer JP McManus but his next run in the Grand National resulted in tragedy as he fell early in the race and suffered a fatal injury when running loose.
McCoy told told BBC Radio 5 Live: "The mother of Synchronised, Mayasta, was my first winner for JP in 1996 and Synchronised gave me the greatest day in racing. JP spent his whole life trying to buy a Gold Cup horse, and his wife bred one for him.

"He was a bit like I am as a human being. He probably wasn't the greatest horse I'd ridden, but he had the greatest will to win.

"As a jump jockey I've seen the human side of horse racing be really tough, but in equine terms what happened to Synchronised (suffered a fatal injury in the 2012 Grand National) was the worst day I've had in racing.

"When he fell I can distinctly remember him galloping off. I remember being in pain but thinking at least the horse is all right. Afterwards when he was loose he managed to get injured.

"I was very sore, but I cried for days afterwards. That affected me more than any other horse.

"It's personal and that's why he's number one."

McCoy placed Don't Push It, who finally ended his National hoodoo in 2010, as his second favourite horse while triple Gold Cup hero Best Mate, who the rider partnered to King George VI Chase glory, was third.

The Paul Nicholls-trained duo Big Buck's and Master Minded were partnered by McCoy on a handful of occasions but they both featured on his top 10 along with Well Chief, Baracouda, Cyfor Malta and Like A Butterfly.

The list also featured Gloria Victis, winner of the 1999 Feltham Chase and the 2000 Racing Post Chase for Martin Pipe.

The novice subsequently tackled the Gold Cup at Cheltenham but he had to be put down after breaking a leg two fences from home - an incident that still weighs on McCoy's mind. "We had a decision to make whether to run in the Sun Alliance Chase or the Cheltenham Gold Cup," he said.

"He had been working extremely well. I agreed with the decision to run him in the Gold Cup. He was after beating seasoned chasers. Sadly he got fatally injured. If he hadn't got injured, I think he would have won.

"That's one of the toughest things about the sport when you see a horse like that with so much potential - horses you dream about.

"It's a tough thing to take. I didn't ride after that at Cheltenham that year. I can remember that night after the Gold Cup crying because I thought he was a superstar. You find it very hard to get over.

"I still think about Gloria Victis now and it's 15 years since I rode him."