The
eagerly awaited, new summer jumping season at Worcester is under starter's
orders and will begin on Thursday 7 May. However, an integral part of the
recent history of the course, and indeed the sport of National Hunt racing,
will be missing.
Quite
simply, it will be a different place without 20 times champion jockey, Tony
McCoy who retired at Sandown last Saturday. So
much has already been said and written about the unique sportsman since he
announced his retirement at Newbury in February. We would like to add our own tribute and reiterate how proud we are at Worcester
that Pitchcroft will go down in history as AP's winning-most track. He rode an unbelievable 1,069 races at the
course, winning 298 of those and creating a strike rate of 27.36%.
AP's
obsession with winning has driven him through easy, as well as seemingly
impossible victories, all of which we have witnessed with awe. But how many people know that in his quest to
be the best, during his 25 year amateur and professional career, he has dieted
and sweated away the equivalent weight of two African elephants, he has chipped
14 teeth, broken 13 bones and has taken more than 1,000 falls?
Our General Manager Jenny Cheshire recites a personal memory she has of his dedication to perfection... 'I
shared breakfast at Cheltenham on Paddy Power Gold Cup Day with AP and John
Francome following a 'behind the scenes' visit to the Morning Line. Whilst
others tucked into a full English, AP's breakfast consisted merely of a strong
cup of tea with 5 sugars.'
It
is extraordinary to think that over a 35 year period since 1980, we have
celebrated just 4 champion National Hunt jockeys: John Francome, Peter
Scudamore, Richard Dunwoody and AP.
Life
will go on at Pitchcroft however, with a season of 20 fixtures from 7th May to
21st October to look forward to. There
is bound to be considerable interest in the jockey title this year, and new
equine stars will emerge from our bumpers as they always do.
Notable
2015 Cheltenham Festival winners who found success in Worcester bumpers in 2013
were Ladbrokes World Hurdle winner, Cole Harden and listed novice handicap
chase winner, Irish Cavalier.
Whatever
the season holds for us at Worcester, we thank AP for all the memories and wish
him the very best for his retirement.
