The Career Of A.P. McCoy
Fans of National Hunt racing will all know that AP McCoy has dominated the sport of horse racing for the last two decades. While previous champions have been satisfied with riding over a thousand winners, McCoy is on route for a mind-boggling 4000 wins in his career. At the age of 39 he has yet to slow down despite having broken nearly every bone in his body throughout his career.
Born Anthony Peter McCoy, AP first cut his teeth as a young boy apprenticing in a stable. After recovering from a broken leg as a teenager, he was pushed to become a jump jockey. It didn’t take long after AP’s arrival on the scene to draw attention from some big players in the horse racing world, in particular trainer Martin Pipe.
With Martin Pipe, McCoy would begin his domination of the national hunt racing. Over their seven years working together, McCoy would accumulate more than a thousand of his wins. During this time he landed some of the world’s most prestigious races, such as the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Queen Mother Champion Chase and King George VI Chase. Nonetheless, he was not yet able to win the Grand National despite nearly a dozen attempts.
In 2004 McCoy shocked the racing world by announcing his departure from Pipe to ride for Irish racehorse owner JP McManus. Though some questioned if his success would continue after such a major switch, it soon became clear that AP’s extreme talent for riding was not compromised. Under McManus, McCoy would go on to score his 3000th win.
In 2010, AP McCoy lined up at the start of the Grand National for his 15th attempt at the Aintree National fences. Despite all of his successes up to that date, he had never managed to win this race. Riding Don’t Push It, he took on a sizeable lead within the first mile and road that early boost all the way to a victory by five lengths over Black Apalachi’s second place finish. This race was not only a huge landmark for AP’s career; it also marked the first time that one of JP McManus’s horses had won the Grand National, despite 32 prior attempts.
For most people bagging a huge race like the Grand National would be a pinnacle to a successful career, but not for AP McCoy. Truly in it for the love of the sport, he’s already looking forward to new goals. Despite being 39 years old, AP has his sights set on riding 4000 winners. For anybody else it would sound crazy, but for McCoy it’s just another day at the races.
