Tony McCoy (photo by racingfotos.com)
Tony McCoy equaled trainer Martin Pipe’s career tally of 4,191 winners at Uttoxeter on Wednesday, 16 July 2014.
McCoy equaled the mark with a typically powerful ride aboard On The Record in the 32Red On The App Store Handicap Hurdle after a tough tussle with Bangkok Pete. The 25-1 outsider pushed On the Record all the way and the race could have gone either way from the final flight.However, McCoy got the Jonjo O’Neill-trained six-year-old, owned by his boss JP McManus, home by a neck much to the delight of his supporters.
“I made hard work of it. I was a bit conscious we went steady. Down the back I thought I’d better get him a bit closer because he’s not a quick horse. Then he just started to wander about and have a look and was probably going to win over the last but decided to stop and it was only when a horse came by him that I got him going again in time thankfully. It’s nice that he won. I’ve had a few steering jobs and I was hoping one would win and this horse was appropriately named. It’s nice that it’s one of Jonjo’s and one of JP’s.”
McCoy was a long-time stable jockey to the now retired 15-time champion trainer Pipe. “The thing with me and Mr Pipe is that it’s just a personal thing. We’ve a lot of friends and there’s been a lot of banter for a long time. I wouldn’t be surprised if he went to Newmarket for a trainer’s course. I hope I’ve driven him mad!”
Pipe, whose son David now runs the family stable in Somerset, has joked about re-applying for his trainer’s licence should McCoy pass him. After McCoy had drawn level with his father, David tweeted: ‘Could there be a more appropriate way for @AP_McCoy to join my father in the 4191 club than success aboard On The Record?! #McCoyWatch’
Unprecedented
When McCoy took his first ride in September 1990, the mark for most career wins by a jump jockey had been set by Peter Scudamore, who managed 1,678 in the 1988/89 season. Richard Dunwoody briefly set a new high of 1,699, but McCoy passed that back in 2002 and every winner he has ridden since then has been a record-breaker. Thursday, 7 November 2013 saw Tony McCoy cross the line aboard Mountain Tunes at Towcester to clock up his 4000th win and he’s still going. No one in the sport appears to believe his new total can ever be matched.
The 40-year-old, currently closing in on an incredible 20th successive jump jockey title, is vying to become the first man to ride 300 winners in a season (his previous best being 289 winner in 2001-2). He is well on track, having recorded his fastest-ever half-century of winners at Worcester last month and is now on the 75 mark for the campaign.
(source: Belfast Telegraph)
