Tony McCoy’s winning streak continues as fans enjoy his farewell tour

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/feb/09/tony-mccoy-farewell-tour

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Tony McCoy’s two-month farewell tour began in the best possible style with a winner on the first of his two rides here, Dewala leading from start to finish to score one of the easier victories of the champion jockey’s career. It was his fifth day in a row with at least one success. He should announce his retirement more often.

While Dewala had five lengths in hand at the finish line of this rural track close to Scotch Corner, her rider was tailed off last each time he and his colleagues had to make their way to the paddock, signing autographs and posing for photos every step of the way. Officials reckoned the crowd had been boosted by 25% as locals seized on what may very well be their last chance to see this most high-achieving of all jump jockeys in action.

Related: Tony McCoy announces he will retire from racing at end of season

Admittedly, the final attendance figure was only expected to be around 1,500 but that counts as a good showing for a February Monday at this frill-free venue. It was also enough to slightly discomfit McCoy, who, after two days of continual backslapping, well-wishing, interviewing and all-round pestering was plainly desirous of a quiet afternoon at the office.

He was asked to pose for pictures with a memento pressed on him by racecourse management and then helped rally bids for a life-size picture of himself that he had signed for charity. If the same palaver is repeated on Tuesday at Ayr, Wednesday at Chepstow and on Thursday at Kelso, McCoy might end up regretting the announcement he made live on Channel 4 at the weekend.

“It’s not the ideal scenario,” the 40-year-old said in a quiet moment in the weighing room. “But it’s just the way the circumstances had it. I thought it was the right decision, to announce it rather than wait until after Cheltenham and Aintree and have people speculating as I got closer to the end of the season. I wanted it on my terms, I wanted it to be my announcement. I’ll get on with the job now.”

What does he most want to get out of the next two months? “I think I’ll hopefully enjoy riding more than I’ve ever done. I’ve always enjoyed riding but every day the fear’s been there that I’m not going to ride any winners. The fear will still be there but the fear is what kept me awake at night and I don’t think it’ll keep me awake any more. It’s coming to the end.”

Those who will miss him are not confined to the punters who sent off Dewala at 2-1 but include people like her trainer, Michael Appleby. “He’s had a good innings, hasn’t he?” Appleby said. “It’s probably the right time, while he’s still in one piece. He’s the best there’s ever been, I would think.”

Related: Tony McCoy will leave a huge void in racing after 20 unbroken years on top

The clearest measure of McCoy’s greatness may be that the 83-year-old Mick Easterby, a Yorkshire trainer famed for his plain speaking, was briefly silenced when asked to discuss him. “There’s no words to describe McCoy,” Easterby said eventually. “If you’ve seen it, there’s no need to talk about it.”

At length, he recalled a mare called Lady Confess that McCoy had to pull up the first time he rode her, back in 1999. “He said, ‘Take it to Hexham, I’ll go and ride it, it’ll win’.” And so it came to pass. McCoy also nominated her next race, where she won again.

The question of how this unparalleled talent will fill the days after April continues to go unanswered. McCoy appears not to fancy the idea of training but no tempting alternatives have yet emerged.

“I’ve genuinely never thought about it because I always felt, if you were thinking about doing something else, you should be thinking about retiring,” he said. “I’ve had a week to think about it now and I still haven’t thought about it. So I’ll wait for the day it comes, that I do retire and I’ll be home for a few days and the wife wants to get rid of me and I’ll have to think of something. What, I don’t know.

“Riding will be the thing I’ll definitely miss the most. Obviously, I’ll miss winning. I’ll miss the lads in the weighing room, I’ll miss the valets. There’s so many lads that work in yards I’ve known for years. They might be travelling head lads or stable lads or head lads, whatever they may be, I’ve been friendly with them for 20 years.”

He will not miss the constant pressure to avoid adding an ounce of fat to his slender frame and must, in private moments, be smacking his lips at the thought of all the delicious items that will be back on the menu for the first time since he was a teenager. But even these consolations can’t make him smile as he contemplates the end of his riding days.

“I’m not looking forward to it. I’m not. But, like I say, I’m a realist. I won’t be the person that suddenly decides, oh, I can’t go racing and watch it. I’ll be able to go racing.

“Next year, I’ll be hoping that all those good horses that I’ve ridden for JP [McManus, owner], I’ll be cheering them on, I hope they all win and I hope they get better.”

McManus still has six entries in what will be McCoy’s final Grand National on 11 April. If the jockey has an inkling as to which he will climb aboard, he is not saying so yet, except that it is unlikely to be the veteran Sunnyhillboy, a close second in the Aintree race three years ago. “I’d be hoping that JP and I can find something a little younger than Sunnyhillboy. There’s no point in two pensioners going round together.”

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