AP McCoy is retiring - breaking news

Harry Palmr

more to follow

edit - at end of the season

I hope he does a Jamie Spencer type retirement

bellybuster12

Legend of a jockey and had an unreal career, been on the slide(imo) the last 12 months. Great decision and good luck to him.

sdoc13

One of the greatest sportsmen of all tine serious competitor. Hope he goes out on a high. Deserves it.

sdoc13

One of the greatest sportsmen of all tine serious competitor. Hope he goes out on a high. Deserves it.

Francie Barrett

bellybuster12 wrote: »

been on the slide(imo) the last 12 months.

While I think he has been lucky in the early part of the season to have so many winners, picking up a lot of the injured jockeys rides, I think that statement is just wrong.

bellybuster12

Francie Barrett wrote: »

While I think he has been lucky in the early part of the season to have so many winners, picking up a lot of the injured jockeys rides, I think that statement is just wrong.

Fair enough, but if i had a choice of jockey in a big race he would be my 5th choice, but thats just me and it's not taking anything away from what he has achieved. I think he decision is a good one and will go out on top.

Morleystreet

Was watching ch4 as he announced the news. After about 1 minute I thought about sports personality of year, logged into pp account and he is 50-1. No money in account, frenetically try to lodge money. Go back to place bet and betting suspended!! Then goes into 3-1. Those guys miss nothing. Did anyone get on at 50s?

primary 2

what a great competator he was and i wish him the best of luck in his retirment,going to be very strange picking up a paper and checking a small mid week meeting in the uk and not seeing ap mcCoy down to ride,made plenty of money down through the years following him,just seen him been interviewed seems down and out and comes across a really sound lad

posturingpat

What a man and what an ambassador for the sport. Edredon Bleu in the champion chase,Wichita Lineman in the handicap chase at the festival,Hennessy in a big handicap chase at Sandown,these are just some of the rides that come to mind when thinking back on his career,i honestly can not ever see another Jockey dominate like he has. A true great.

Nulty

Who's gonna take the JP job!?

Timberrrrrrrr

Morleystreet wrote: »

Was watching ch4 as he announced the news. After about 1 minute I thought about sports personality of year, logged into pp account and he is 50-1. No money in account, frenetically try to lodge money. Go back to place bet and betting suspended!! Then goes into 3-1. Those guys miss nothing. Did anyone get on at 50s?

I'd say a certain Mrs McCoy did


Great jockey and all round nice guy, after that career and so many injuries he deserves a well earned rest.

fits

He is a fantastic sportsman. Good luck to him.

krustydoyle

Nulty wrote: »

Who's gonna take the JP job!?

Would a certain Paul townend be swayed to give it a go for a few seasons or is be happy to play the waiting game waiting on ruby

I think Paul Townend would be an ideal candidate for the job.

jimjamcos

Nulty wrote: »

Who's gonna take the JP job!?

Geraghty you'd have to assume. He'd likely lose a few nice Henderson rides but if he gets a fraction of AP's 1million retainer, it's a no-brainier. JP/Frank Berry will want a top jock who's Irish but available both sides of water and given that Geraghty has already ridden multiple Gr1 winners for them, he's bound to be offered it. Could see someone like Jacob, given the Simon Munir link picking up some of the top Henderson horses like Peace and Co, L'Ami Serge

jimjamcos

Morleystreet wrote: »

Was watching ch4 as he announced the news. After about 1 minute I thought about sports personality of year, logged into pp account and he is 50-1. No money in account, frenetically try to lodge money. Go back to place bet and betting suspended!! Then goes into 3-1. Those guys miss nothing. Did anyone get on at 50s?

I think he's still a 50's shot tbh. You've got to factor in that it's a public vote (there was a massive push for votes from racing industry last time), that he'll be over 6months retired by the time the awards come round (there's always recency bias) and that it's very likely that Rory McIlroy will have completed the career grand slam by the age of 26, to widespread media acclaim. Would much rather back McIlroy at 9's than McCoy

kksaints

Thought he would go on for another 2 or 3 seasons but probably best to retire before he gets another bad injury. Absolute legend of Jump Racing. Wonder what he will do now?

abarkie

kksaints wrote: »

Thought he would go on for another 2 or 3 seasons but probably best to retire before he gets another bad injury. Absolute legend of Jump Racing. Wonder what he will do now?

Hasn't he got a stables already set up at home

I think he become a racing advisor to JP or assistant to Jonjo

Francie Barrett

jimjamcos wrote: »

Geraghty you'd have to assume. He'd likely lose a few nice Henderson rides but if he gets a fraction of AP's 1million retainer, it's a no-brainier. JP/Frank Berry will want a top jock who's Irish but available both sides of water and given that Geraghty has already ridden multiple Gr1 winners for them, he's bound to be offered it. Could see someone like Jacob, given the Simon Munir link picking up some of the top Henderson horses like Peace and Co, L'Ami Serge

I reckon Geraghty will be winding down in the next few years, so I can't imagine him being to eager to travel over to England to ride garbage horses at Southwell in mid-week.

Johnny Burke and Bryan Cooper are certainly two of the rising stars of jump racing, but they have been picked up. For me, that leaves two jockey's. Mark Walsh and Paul Townend. Townend I'd expect to be hanging on for Ruby to quit, so he can take over as his stable jock. That realistically leaves Walsh, who I can't help but think might be one that is considered to be Jonjo's retained rider. He's already riding for Mcmanus and doing well in Ireland. No reason to think why that can't continue over the pond.

jimjamcos

Francie Barrett wrote: »

I reckon Geraghty will be winding down in the next few years, so I can't imagine him being to eager to travel over to England to ride garbage horses at Southwell in mid-week.

Johnny Burke and Bryan Cooper are certainly two of the rising stars of jump racing, but they have been picked up. For me, that leaves two jockey's. Mark Walsh and Paul Townend. Townend I'd expect to be hanging on for Ruby to quit, so he can take over as his stable jock. That realistically leaves Walsh, who I can't help but think might be one that is considered to be Jonjo's retained rider. He's already riding for Mcmanus and doing well in Ireland. No reason to think why that can't continue over the pond.

Geraghty has another 4/5 years at the top, plenty of time to provide JP with big winners. You've got to bare in mind that McCoy was well-established and around 30 when they sighed him up from Pipe. Not sure their modus operandi is to risk a relatively inexperienced jockey such as Walsh when there's a better, more experience chick available who's also more familiar with their horses

Gringo180

The greatest of all time. Wish him a great retirement. Legend of a man!

Francie Barrett

jimjamcos wrote: »

Geraghty has another 4/5 years at the top, plenty of time to provide JP with big winners. You've got to bare in mind that McCoy was well-established and around 30 when they sighed him up from Pipe. Not sure their modus operandi is to risk a relatively inexperienced jockey such as Walsh when there's a better, more experience chick available who's also more familiar with their horses

I can't see Barry giving up his present gig. He gets to ride Nicky's first string in England, and picks up a bunch of decent rides in Ireland where he still lives. If he was to become JP's retained rider, he'd probably have to forego a lot of the Irish rides to go to England instead to ride for Jonjo. Considering his personal circumstances, I'd say he can't be bothered. Mark Walsh on the other hand is still young, free and single, and most importantly, he's got the most wins from any jockey in Ireland so far this year.

Francie Barrett

Anyone want to speculate on what will come next for McCoy? I cannot see him leaving racing. If he's not riding winners, I suspect that he will want to be training them. With all his experience, he will have a very good eye for a horse, so I reckon he might become assistant trainer to Jonjo, with the expectation of taking over from him when Jonjo eventually decides to hang up his reins.

Andalucia

Will be training a string of flat horses

jimjamcos

Francie Barrett wrote: »

I can't see Barry giving up his present gig. He gets to ride Nicky's first string in England, and picks up a bunch of decent rides in Ireland where he still lives. If he was to become JP's retained rider, he'd probably have to forego a lot of the Irish rides to go to England instead to ride for Jonjo. Considering his personal circumstances, I'd say he can't be bothered. Mark Walsh on the other hand is still young, free and single, and most importantly, he's got the most wins from any jockey in Ireland so far this year.

There's only a handful of Henderson horses he'd hate to lose the ride on I'd say, gun put to his head. Obviously Sprinter Sacre if he's back to his best and stays in training, then a few of the promising youngsters such as Peace and Co. The majority of Hendersons team have question marks galore though - Simonsig is gone at the game; the likes of Finians, Captain Conan haven't been seen in yonks, BW has loads to prove and Josses Hill is clearly regressing for fences. The yard is in a period of change after the heights of two years ago. If Geraghty took the JP job, as well as making more money, he'd be riding the likes of Jezki, MOT, My Tent Or Yours,, Alvisio Ville, as well as some nicely plotted ones for big handicaps. Bar Sprinter, he's got way more quality options.

Also, regarding Walsh, if they rated him that highly, surely he'd have got some of the big race spare rides they gave to Geraghty when you consider how well he's done in Ireland. How many rides has he had for them in England?

TheCitizen

What's he going to do now? When you were as dedicated to something as he was. Will he go into training horses?

posturingpat

From all previous times he's spoken about it he's said he wouldn't train horses,might all change when he's got time on his hands.

Francie Barrett

posturingpat wrote: »

From all previous times he's spoken about it he's said he wouldn't train horses,might all change when he's got time on his hands.

What age is Fran Berry now, must be near 70? I'd be shocked if McManus let's McCoy part with him.

Gavin "shels"

Any ideas what his last race will be? Sandown at the end of April maybe?

razorhead

Gavin shels wrote: »

Any ideas what his last race will be? Sandown at the end of April maybe?

He was on Newstalk earlier this morning and he said no final riding day had been decided on, taking one day at a time....

posturingpat

razorhead wrote: »

He was on Newstalk earlier this morning and he said no final riding day had been decided on, taking one day at a time....

Hopefully Carlingford Lough runs well in the Gold cup,if he did it could pesuade Mc Coy to come over to Punchestown Gold Cup. Unlikely i'll get over in March with work commitments so would love to see him at P'town.

Imhof Tank

Not sure whether this has been noted on thread but I didn't hear Jonjo being name checked for thanks etc by AP on Chanel 4 or RTE?

Thought that was a bit strange

EICVD

Can't see Sandown being his last day with 5 days at Punchestown the week after. Was delighted he won the big one yesterday, if I hadn't got the girlfriend with me I'd have been right down at the front of the winners enclosure.

posturingpat

Imhof Tank wrote: »

Not sure whether this has been noted on thread but I didn't hear Jonjo being name checked for thanks etc by AP on Chanel 4 or RTE?

Thought that was a bit strange

I wouldn't read too much into it,JJ was never his boss.

klairondavis

He will surely stick around for Jezki at Punchestown

barney4001

klairondavis wrote: »

He will surely stick around for Jezki at Punchestown

he is after punchestown thats it for mcoy

the groutch

hopefully he wins the Stayer's hurdle this year, just about the only big race he's never won.

Shemale

the groutch wrote: »

hopefully he wins the Stayer's hurdle this year, just about the only big race he's never won.

He has a right chance if its the same horse, still cant believe he picked AFC last year.

posturingpat

Shemale wrote: »

He has a right chance if its the same horse, still cant believe he picked AFC last year.

Vibes for more of that aint good,he's out of his run this weekend and they're having trouble getting him right.

jimjamcos

posturingpat wrote: »

Vibes for more of that aint good,he's out of his run this weekend and they're having trouble getting him right.

Where you read that? From what I've seen they just weren't prepared to run him on bad ground

posturingpat

jimjamcos wrote: »

Where you read that? From what I've seen they just weren't prepared to run him on bad ground

3rd hand information but from someone i trust. He's a lot of back problems and they'll be surprised if he gets there spot on.

Shemale

posturingpat wrote: »

3rd hand information but from someone i trust. He's a lot of back problems and they'll be surprised if he gets there spot on.

I'll take that, thanks. Rock on Ruby it is

bit of a bogey

posturingpat wrote: »

3rd hand information but from someone i trust. He's a lot of back problems and they'll be surprised if he gets there spot on.

My source was that he is back working well and they were more than happy him....... who knows!

posturingpat

Who knows is right,one thing's for sure if he turns up spot on on the day he'll be very hard beat.
Hopefully he does,just didn't want anyone having a good punt on him in case he doesn't go but most of the firms are Non runner no bet now i think anyway for the World.

bit of a bogey

posturingpat wrote: »

Who knows is right,one thing's for sure if he turns up spot on on the day he'll be very hard beat.
Hopefully he does,just didn't want anyone having a good punt on him in case he doesn't go but most of the firms are Non runner no bet now i think anyway for the World.

Im along the same lines as yourself. If he is right, I could see McManus coming in big for him along with the McCoy sentiment bet's making him one of the best backed horses of the festival. If the vibes are right, he might be the only reasonably priced good thing that everyone will follow.

bit of a bogey

Looks like More of that burst so might not make it there afterall!

http://www.racingpost.com/news/live.sd?event_id=6360924&category=0

posturingpat

Burst my eye. :rolleyes:

posturingpat

Not aimed at you BOAB but i just never believe trainers comments in these situations,if MOT comes back next year and is still a quality horse we'll hear how delighted they are to have got him right and they've always had trouble getting him right because he's a bad back,they let Joe public know as little as possible.

bit of a bogey

Ah sure I know. Cant really trust any of them.

Francie Barrett

Looks like McCoy will continue to Aintree at least - http://www.racingpost.com/news/live.sd?event_id=6645324&category=0