Sixty times between them AP McCoy and Jonjo O’Neill have entered the Grand National and 59 times they have been left pondering what might have been.
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Just once have the famous pairing struck gold with Don’t Push It in 2010, a horse the trainer O’Neill likes to describe as “a nutcase”.
On Saturday, the jockey-trainer pair will unite for one final time over the Aintree fences in the distinctive green-and-gold hooped racing colours of the third member of their horse racing triumvirate, the multimillionaire owner JP McManus.
The horse in question is Shutthefrontdoor, the biggest favourite for victory since the legendary Red Rum in his heyday. But much of that backing is for sentiment rather than any form guide.
Shutthefrontdoor is clearly capable over the fences: the bay gelding won last year’s Irish Grand National and has not been raced since November purely with the Grand National in mind. But punters are behind the horse predominantly for the fact that it will be the last time the great McCoy will ride the National course.
Should he win, it could even be McCoy’s final race although that is currently scheduled two weeks hence for Sandown.
A tribute to a true legend of the sport, @AP_McCoy, ahead of his last Grand National. pic.twitter.com/BeuZUSf3dF
— Aintree Racecourse (@AintreeRaces) April 8, 2015
Somewhat perversely, McCoy is dreading it, not the race itself but the aftermath, the impending days towards his looming retirement.
“I’m not looking forward to it,” he says frankly, it’s the only way McCoy knows.
“I never hoped the moment would come but I’m a realist and know I can’t go on forever and I wanted to make sure that I retired while I was still doing well so people ask me why I’m retiring rather than when.
“That makes it even tougher. I’m not entirely at peace with it. In some ways I hope it’s the right decision, I hope I’ve done the right thing. But I do worry about whether I’ll be OK. I don’t think for a moment it’s going to be great.”
McCoy, in short, is relentlessly driven to the very end, an unquenchable appetite for success despite rewriting all of horse racing’s record books.
Immaterial of what happens at Aintree on Saturday, he will be crowned jump jockey for the 20th-straight season, which spans all but one year of his professional life riding on English soil with more than 4,300 career winners and counting.
It is a dominance unrivalled by any sporting personality or team in any sport. But he remains modest to the bitter end.
Asked what makes him so good, his immediate response is: “I’ve never thought I was good.”
So why such overriding modesty? “You can’t be arrogant enough to think your good or better than anyone else. As jockeys we have a great grounding in that an ambulance follows you around on every day at the office.
“And all I’ve ever tried to do is get better and have a hard work ethic. I just want to do better than I’ve done before, and keep challenging myself.”
The statistics suggest he is as good as he’s ever been – McCoy is in the midst of his best season since 2002 less than a month shy of his 41st birthday – which in some ways explains the difficulty in reaching his decision.
While the ensuing final days of his career are hard, he is adamant that won’t be the worst bit of life out of the saddle: “The day the season starts next year, I’m dreading that. For 20 years, I’ve gone hell for leather barely missing a day. It’s going to be very surreal.”
But surely he is excited about pursuing the next chapter of his life? “It’s not exciting, Jesus, no.”
The fact is that he cannot find an adrenaline fix to replace the thrill of riding, nor is he about to try other daredevil stunts to replicate that.
PICTURE OF THE DAY: Grand National favourite Shutthefrontdoor getting ready for Aintree pic.twitter.com/seiT5Ro3KR
— Racing Post (@RacingPost) April 1, 2015
Instead, he is planning more family holidays, aiming to cut down his golf handicap and see his beloved Arsenal play more often. He adds: “Maybe six months down the line, I’ll think ‘why didn’t I do this ages ago’.”
McCoy, who insists he will end his career with no regrets, will have a first opportunity to look back at what he has achieved. So driven was he that he rarely celebrated the big wins, the focus already shifting on to the next race.
But there is plenty to ponder: from that aforementioned National win to winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup to his record-breaking run as champion jockey.
“Breaking Gordon Richards’ record [for race wins in a season] was my greatest achievement,” he admits, “and riding 4,000 winners was not something I ever dreamed of doing. There are many special moments: winning the Gold Cup and the National on Don’t Push It.”
To win the National just once more would be an appropriate farewell. As has always been the case, his drive at Aintree will remain the same: “Sometimes you wonder if the thrill of winning was bigger than the fear of losing. I still don’t know the answer. I know I’m become better at losing but the two aspects drive me equally.”
There are, though, positives to be gleaned from retirement. Finally, he can end the nights of calorie counting his food at dinner or sweating in the sauna to ensure the pounds stay off.
In addition, he will not miss the accident and emergency wards at hospitals across the country where he has been such a regular visitor he is on first name terms with some staff. He has broken both his wrists, collarbones, shoulder blades and cheekbones as well as each rib, one leg, an arm and an ankle.
In addition, he has punctured lungs and most of his teeth are replacements.
“I won’t miss that,” he says. “I won’t miss hospital or the travelling around or not eating a lot. It’s not like I’m suddenly going to get fat, I’ll aim to keep in shape. So there are things I won’t miss but only a few.”
McCoy knows he is lucky to ride off into the sunset without more serious injuries having witness his peers suffer life-changing injuries in the call of duty.
With a young family in tow, that played a part in his decision so too did the current state of the weighing room. There are jockeys around him there that were either not born or merely in nappies when he won his first jockey’s title.
Such is the lottery of the National, there is no guessing as to what lies in store for McCoy on Saturday. A second victory in the National National pride: McCoy (second left) rides Shutthefrontdoor to victory in 2010. would be a remarkable final chapter.
