Tony McCoy
Tony McCoy
Sir Anthony Peter McCoy OBE, commonly known as A. P. McCoy or Tony McCoy, is a Northern Irish former horse racing jockey. Based in the UK and Ireland, McCoy rode a record 4,358 winners, and was Champion Jockey a record 20 consecutive times, every year he was a professional. He stands 1.78 m, taller than most jockeys...
NationalityIrish
ProfessionHorse Jockey
Date of Birth4 May 1974
CountryIreland
anyone asked meet
When I was a kid, if someone had asked who I'd meet if it could be anyone in the world, it would've been Liam Brady.
broke came
When I was 18, I broke my leg, and my shin came right through - like I had two knees.
colours determined trained winner
I was determined my 4,000th winner would be in the green and gold colours of J. P. McManus and trained by Jonjo O'Neill, who have been my greatest supporters.
officially written
I never had a written contract, was never officially a stable jockey.
lads rarely
Really racing is about the horses, not me. You can't do it without the horses, and they are the big players as are the lads who look after them, and they rarely get a mention.
champion class difference expect field horse hurdle last small won
The small field should not make a difference to him and it was a small enough field when he won it last year. He's a class horse as you would expect for a Champion hurdle winner." ()
colleagues consider countless learned mad people richard seen terms took understand
I have seen countless colleagues struggle to come to terms with retirement. I learned a lot from Richard Dunwoody when he was riding, and I completely understand why he took off and undertook what most people consider mad challenges.
advice deal diet found given good largely people time trial
I have found the right way to deal with my diet, largely through trial and error, but also by having good people around me all the time, and they have given me the right advice for my body.
clan good hopefully next race ran royal time
It was a very good race and Clan Royal ran a blinder... hopefully next time will be my moment.
darkness enjoy jumping last worse
Darkness' jumping was probably worse when he was going right-handed at Sandown last time, he just didn't enjoy it.
opinion respect worst
The criticism does not hurt because I have always been my own worst critic. I wouldn't say I don't respect other people's opinions, but my opinion is the most important.
friendly horses others people
Horses are like people - they have different personalities. They can be nice, friendly and hard-working, or awkward, difficult and lazy. If horses were people, some would be on the dole, and others would be entrepreneurs.
biggest bit charlie definitely failure good grand john national peter public race won
From a public perspective, the Grand National is the biggest race of all, and not to have won it yet is definitely a failure. But there's been a lot of jockeys every bit as good and better than me that haven't won it - John Francome, Peter Scudamore, Jonjo O'Neill, Charlie Swan, to name a few.
backside
There is no place for arrogance or complacency in racing because you are up there one minute and on your backside the next.