There were camera crews, mainstream news reporters and an audience of thousands at Towcester racecourse on Thursday to witness the 4,000th winner of Tony McCoy’s riding career on a horse called Mountain Tunes. There was champagne, though McCoy does not drink, and JP McManus, whose horse he was riding, bought a round for everyone at the track. But few will notice if he rides the 4,001st at Southwell this afternoon, because Tony MCoy is the most obscure genius in British sport.
Perhaps it is because he is an everyday genius too. From one day, month and year to the next, and for nearly two decades, he has been riding winners more reliably and relentlessly than any jockey in the history of jump racing.
Yet it is rare for his achievements to register beyond the tight-knit world of racing. That requires a landmark number, like Thursday’s winner, or a big-race success, like his win in the 2010 Grand National, and that only arrived at the 15th attempt.
The win at Aintree in the world’s most famous race, and a concerted voting campaign among racing fans, was enough to make McCoy the Sports Personality of the Year the following December. But he could still walk down most high streets today without being recognised, and there is little appreciation in the wider sporting world of just how remarkable a performer is at work in our midst.
With 4,000 winners, McCoy is now nearly 1,500 clear of the second-most successful jockey in National Hunt racing, Richard Johnson. Johnson is a close contemporary of McCoy, and had he been riding in any other era, he would have been the sport's champion jockey many times. Yet he has not been the champion - the rider with the most winners in a year - even once, as McCoy has finished top of the pile for the last 18 seasons in a row.
After Johnson, the most successful rider in the game is Ruby Walsh. His 2,220 winners are scarcely half of McCoy's total, and he too falls a little further behind each year. After that, there are names from racing history, such as Richard Dunwoody (1,874 winners) and Peter Scudamore, who had 1,692.
Michael Schumacher, the most dominant driver that Formula One racing has seen, won seven world titles to set against McCoy's 18 championships. Phil Taylor has won 16 world championships in darts - but he does not fall from the stage and hit the ground at 30 miles an hour several dozen times each year. Even Bob Beamon's famous long jump record, once seen as a freak event that might never be equalled, fell in the end. Yet McCoy has not only put up a career record of winners to match Beamon's leap, he is extending his extraordinary dominance week by week.
There are few bones in McCoy’s body which have not been broken at least once in a fall, but as yet, his determination to return, often several weeks earlier than his doctors had predicted or recommended, has kept his champion’s status intact. If he can escape serious injury again this year, a 19th championship is inevitable. Few expect McCoy, 39, to reach 5,000 winners, which might require another six or seven seasons in a brutal business in which few riders go much beyond 40. Then again, few thought that 4,000 winners was realistic when he reached 3,000 in February 2009.
Another reason for McCoy’s low public profile, despite dominating his profession like no other sportsman, is his natural modesty. He does not visit nightclubs, or date pop stars, or change his hairstyle to garner attention. He does not drink or smoke or - for obvious reasons - eat fatty foods.
The hollow cheeks that are the result of many years wasting in a sauna to make a riding weight of just over 10 stone are perhaps McCoy’s defining feature. But despite all the denial and the falls, his commitment to his sport remains unshakeable.
“You have to have a modicum of ability,” he said at Towcester on Thursday, “but I think no matter what, to have longevity at something, you have to work hard. I don’t feel that just because I’ve ridden 4,000 winners, I’m any different from the rest of the lads, and I don’t think they’ll treat me any different. They don’t, I’m one of them and this is the quickest sport in the world to bring you back down to earth again, so there’s no room for arrogance or cockiness or thinking you’re any better than anyone else, because you ain’t.”
Some jump jockeys retire because they have a bad fall. Others wake up one morning and realise that they cannot face the risks and the damage any more. McCoy has no idea if this will happen to him.
“I think the biggest problem I have in my life is that I enjoy what I do,” McCoy said. “It’s a very tough thing [to think about retiring] because I’ve always loved it.
“If it ever happens that I’m not loving what I’m doing, then I won’t be doing it any more. I hope that when the time comes and I think I’m losing it a little bit, I’ll be sensible enough to give up and go away and stop annoying people.”
Until then, McCoy will exit the limelight and return to the normality of being extraordinary on a daily basis. - Guardian Service
