There is no doubting that a single race can finish a horse Nass. Most of the time these animals tend to pull up ok, and with some care, return to a reasonable sense of normality. But every now and then, a gut busting run such as that by Wichita Lineman, can finish a horse. But what does an owner do? He gets into the game trying to grab a decent horse, and if he manages to grab the lightning, he wants the big win. McCoy had no option but to push on in the William Hill, it was expected of him, it was his job. It's sad that it may have emptied the horse, but that's racing. We tell ourselves the same thing every time an animal is destroyed on race day.
and this is the "problem" with AP, because he is so good at getting horses to perform above what they should on the day, they end up overfacing the horses. Take the Wichita Lineman story, he managed to get him to win a 20+ runner handicap at the festival, despite hitting a lot of the fences and never travelling with any gusto. This was the horses fourth run over fences after competing in three small field novice races at Chepstow and Exeter where he was racing in easier fields. He was a very classy novice hurdler who won the 3 mile novice at the festival (sluiced up after Black Harry fell) and looked to be getting the grasp of chasing. Instead of dropping him into a novice race, they threw him into two very competitive open class big field handicap chases, and whilst they got away with it the first time, because of AP's genius, they sadly didn't the second time. I feel exactly the same happened with other horses, Synchronised won a Gold Cup, why did they need to go to the well again at the Grand National? He wasn't a veteran chaser at the time either, they had time on their side. As I say, most of this isn't AP's fault, but its still part of the history of the great jockey, and its with more than a tinge of sadness that I have to mention it.
Grundy v Bustino was gut busting for both of them. Piggott getting Roberto up to win the Derby was about as fierce a ride as I've seen. I'm not AP's greatest fan but I have a lot of respect for his bravery, dedication and, as has been referred to earlier, his selflessness. Some nice, well deserved, tributes to him. Sir Gordon Richards received a Knighthood and I think it would be fitting for AP to get his.
Just watching nassau's vid, brings back memories . Was there I backed odipee but there was some good horses that did me a turn. Most notably for me Simon my first dog a sky terrier , a good horse
please log in to view this image If there was one picture that summed up the weekend perfectly, perhaps this was it.
Unfortunately I can't find a vid of my favorite McCoy ride. It's the race where he just gets Three Kingdoms up on the line to beat Solar Impulse (ridden by Ruby) - Three Kingdoms was cruising 3 out when he made an awful blunder (would have seen most jockeys on the grass) - Over the last and Walsh had Solar Impulse 2 lengths clear and both horses were flat out - the McCoy drive is what won that race
Cheers mate - typifies McCoy this race - switch jockeys after the last and Solar Impulse would have won - this race looks even better watching again!!
I remember watching that last week TC, couldnt believe he got the horse in front after the mistakes. Remarkable! My most memorable McCoy race(i only started watching racing from about 2011) was his win on Synchronised in the Gold Cup. He was hard at work after about a mile as he wasnt travelling at all and being out paced. Managed to drive him on and he was upsides at the last, even more special as it was Kauto Stars final outing.
I note that no one has mentioned his rides on Binocular in the 2009 and 2012 Champion Hurdle’s. Cor blimey I wonder why?!? The reason why I can never hear the words ‘oooooooooooooooooooooooooh there will never be another one like Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee’ without shaking my head.
What about the one he gave it in the 2011 Rabobank Champion Hurdle at Punchy? **** ride or the Fly upwards of a stone better?
