It’s ending in tears, says AP McCoy with final line in sight
Tony McCoy, the champion jump jockey for 20 years, retires after riding at Sandown on Saturday
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Tony McCoy has revealed that he is dreading the final race of his career on Saturday and that he drove away from his final session at Cheltenham last week in tears.
The jockey will retire after the meeting at Sandown, where he will be crowned champion over the jumps for the 20th time, and has admitted the dawning reality of the end of his career is making him emotional.
“I’m dreading it,” he told BT Sport’s Clare Balding. “I would like to be able to do it all again. It is very difficult for a sportsperson to walk away when you are still performing before the dip comes or people think he’s maybe not as good as he was or someone else might have had a chance of being champion jockey. I wanted to be brave enough and have enough bottle to walk away when I was still champion jockey.”
The 40-year-old, who has been champion every season since 1995-96, also admitted he only began to feel the full emotional impact of his plan to bow out at the top after the Grand National on 11 April.
“The reality of it only really hit home after the Grand National because after I announced my retirement in February I kind of thought, ‘Well, I’m still riding the next day’. But it really hit home after Aintree and more so at the end, probably after I left Cheltenham last Thursday for the last time.” Pushed on whether he had shed a tear, McCoy replied: “Yes.”
Tony McCoy was speaking ahead of his appearance on the new series of ‘The Clare Balding Show’. To see the full interview watch BT Sport 2 from 9.30pm tonight or BBC 2 at 10pm tomorrow.
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