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
naturally sports
I think I'm skilful enough, but I don't consider myself a naturally talented, gifted sports person.
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.
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.
chance
I was told that there's near on a million to one chance that I would be able to have children.
horses marked whip
I think I've always used the whip in the correct way. I see marked horses every day, and it's not a pretty sight, but I've never marked a horse. Never.
bar bath chocolate diet home hot hour lie might slice station stop
Most days, I have a slice of toast, then lie in a hot bath for an hour to get up a sweat. I have a sauna at the racecourse and then go and ride. On the way home, I might stop at a service station and have a bar of chocolate and a Diet Coke. And that's it, basically.
accept arsenal believe enjoy given golf good hit honestly horse matter overall playing suppose watching
I suppose I'm happy when I know I've given a horse a good ride, no matter where it is. I like playing golf in the summer; I'm happy when I hit a good shot, and I enjoy watching Arsenal playing beautiful football, but overall I can't believe you can be happy when you're not winning. I honestly can't accept that.
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.
You always get a buzz from winning. Winning is... everything.
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.
work
I like challenging myself. I'm not a person who likes not to work.
gets known race ride since time win
I've known he would win this race since Christmas. He just gets better every time I ride him." ()
few hours lose pounds spend starve themselves uncommon weight
It will not surprise you to learn that it is not uncommon for jockeys who struggle with their weight to starve themselves and spend hours in the sauna to lose a few pounds to be able to make a big-race ride.