Today, I was privileged to be at Towcester Races to witness A.P. McCoy win for the 4000th time, a feat never achieved before by any British jump jockey. In fact, to put it into perspective, no other British jockey has ever achieved 3000 wins.
A.P. had two rides today at Towcester. He finished 6th on his first mount in the 2-10pm race, and a sense of anti-climax settled on the very large crowd at this small country race course in rural Northamptonshire.
An hour later, he took our breath away with the bravest of rides, a ride that sums up the man. Riding the favourite, Mountain Tunes, he was never really in contention, but slowly his rivals petered away until half a mile from home, there were 3 horses left in the race. One jumped the last fence so badly that he actually hampered McCoy and surely, a length or two down, there was no way that McCoy could win with less than 150 yards to go to the winning post. You never write off McCoy, he is a true champion, he has skill and determination that is an inspiration to behold. he guided his horse closer to the horse in front, and went past him with less than 50 yards to go, winning by 1/2 a length.
A.P. McCoy has been Champion Jockey in Britain for the last 18 seasons. His achievements will never be surpassed, and I fully expect him to go on to be the Champion 20 years in a row, by which time he will be 41 years old. This man starves himself to make the weight, he has broken just about every bone in his body, yet he has immense humility and will always stop to share a word. I have a memory of him ruffling an 8 year old boys hair in 2008 at Cartmel races, before signing an autograph. That boy was my son Ben. When I texted Ben at school to tell him A.P. had ridden his 4000th winner Ben replied Awesomeness, were you there?
Though I am 48 years old, I am still able to find space for heroes in my life. People who are beyond ordinary. People who achieve through hard work, sacrifice and talent. A.P. McCoy is one such person. Nine years my junior, yet someone who has achieved more than I could ever dream of.
I hope that one day we get to call him Sir Anthony McCoy.
If you have a spare 90 seconds, listen to the commentary on this Youtube link. The excitement of the commentator sums up the end of the race perfectly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZGmRgdpWS4
i like your caption very much too. Thank you.
We could feel your exhilaration jump off of the page!