The Irishman proves why he is going to be missed.
Just a day after announcing his retirement from horse racing at the end of the season, AP McCoy won his first ever Hennessey Gold Cup on Sunday riding Carlingford Lough.
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The competition is Ireland’s most prestigious chase event and McCoy’s victory has brought about speculation that he will finish his career with triumph at the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March.
Leopardstown race course presented the Irishman with a crystal bowl ahead of his win, but the 40-year-old proved his last season is not simply going to be a reflection on past glories as his ruthless streak showed once more.
“People in racing have been amazing all through my career and I’ve been very lucky to have done the job that I’ve done,” McCoy was quoted by the Guardian.
“My wife said yesterday that I was probably just born lucky the way it happened, that I rode my 200th winner on Mr Mole on Channel 4 and was able to announce my retirement, and then fate has it that I was lucky enough to win the Hennessy.
“I was well aware that I couldn’t keep going forever. No matter how long I kept riding for, there was always going to be a time when I was leaving the possibility of riding good horses in good races behind.
“I was always wanting to go out while I was riding reasonably well and champion jockey, and I wanted it to be on my terms. I wanted people to ask me why I was retiring and not why I wasn’t retiring. That’s just the way I’ve always been.”
With 4,315 wins to his name to date there is no doubting that McCoy is one of the sport’s all-time greats and bookmakers have already made the jockey favourite for not only the Gold Cup, but also the Grand National at Aintree in April.
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