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.
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." ()
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.
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.
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.
doubt drive fear living
You need fear and doubt to drive you on. Without it, you end up living in the past and being happy with what you have achieved.
compared formula involved minority people racing sports though
Even though people involved in racing think that it has a big sporting stage, it is a minority sport compared to some of the other high-profile events: football, Formula One or golf.
christy jim jockey legal rode stable
My first winner was on Legal Steps, in Ireland, at Thurles, in March 1992. I rode for Jim Bolger, and his stable jockey was Christy Roche.
buzz good hard motivate simply taste understand winning
It's not hard to motivate myself because once you get a taste for winning races, you simply don't want to do anything else. You get a buzz from it. You want it every day. Only someone who has experienced winning can understand how good it feels.
falls kit thoroughly unless wearing
A helmet is the most important part of any jockey's kit because of the number of falls you take, so I wouldn't want to be wearing anything on the track unless it had been thoroughly tested.
broke flat gordon jockey jumps record richards season sir successful
Sir Gordon Richards was the most successful jockey - flat or jumps - there's ever been: champion jockey for 26 years. He set a record of 269 winners in the season 55 years before I broke it. That was my greatest achievement.