Born on 4th May 1976, Tony McCoy is a widely reputed Northern Irish jockey. Based in the United Kingdom, he has countless achievements in racing, including registering 20 consecutive Champion Jockey titles – a feat that more than confirmed his status as a top class jockey. McCoy was a consummate professional throughout his career in racing. At 1.78m in height (5ft 10in) he’s unusually tall for a jockey, but this certainly hasn’t help him back.
Tony McCoy made history as one of the youngest jockeys ever to achieve track success, at the young age of just 17. The heights he’s reached are well illustrated by fact that he gained his 4000th triumph in 2013 at Towcester on Mountain Tunes. He total career wins come in at 4,358, a number of victories that’s almost hard to fathom.
Even before these exemplary showings, McCoy had already attained a record 74 wins participating as a conditional jockey for trainer Toby Balding. Since he earned his championship title in the 1995/1996 racing season, Tony McCoy attained a notable racing title every year until he ultimately left the tracks for his much-deserved retirement in 2015.
It has been remarked over the years that Tony McCoy won all that there was to win. His most celebrated exploits include the Cheltenhem Gold Cup, Queen Mother Champion Chase, Champion Hurdle, the 2010 Grand National, among other much respected and legendary races. These spectacular victories endeared him to casual punters and professional gamblers alike.
As an enduring testament to the space he’s carved out for himself in horse racing history, the BBC named Tony McCoy as the Sports Personality of Year in 2010. Although the Sports Personality award has been given out annually from 1954 onwards, this was the very first time the prestigious honour had gone to a jockey, or indeed anyone involved in the sport of horse racing. In fact that’s a fact that is true even today. As if that wasn’t enough McCoy won RTE Sports Person of the Year in 2013 and to top it all off he was knighted in 2016.