Tony McCoy with Tom Scudamore, who rode the winner of the AP McCoy Grand Annual Chase at Cheltenham. Photograph: Hugh Routledge/Rex
Tony McCoy could finish only fourth on his final ride at the Cheltenham Festival on Friday, but he received the acclaim of a big-race winner as he returned to unsaddle after the Grand Annual Chase, renamed this year in honour of the retiring champion jockey.
McCoy’s mount Ned Buntline was sent off as the 4-1 favourite, but was hampered by a faller four fences from home and could only stay on past beaten horses in the straight as Next Sensation recorded a four-length success.
“The crowd cheered me all the way to the start and all the way back in,” McCoy said, “but I feel quite guilty because Next Sensation [ridden by Tom Scudamore] won the race. I’m disappointed that I’m never going to ride at the Festival again. It’s going to be very different when I come back here next year. But I’m a realist and I’m lucky to have ridden here for 20 years.
“You cannot keep going on no matter how much you would like to. I love racing and I’m going to miss the competitiveness of racing and winning, but I’m not suddenly not going to come to the Festival because I’m not riding. Obviously there will be sadness when I do come back and not as a jockey, but the sport has been very good to me so I’ll be very happy to come back as a spectator.
“I feel I’m a very lucky person to have done what I’ve done and have the life I’ve had. It’s a privilege to live my life through my hobby. I’ll never forget the reception I’ve been given today.”
Mullins Record
Willie Mullins – new record
Willie Mullins ended the Festival with eight winners from the 27 races, a new record for the meeting, after saddling a 207-1 double on the final day with Wicklow Brave in the County Handicap Hurdle and Killultagh Vic in the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle.
Earlier on the card, Peace And Co, the favourite for the Triumph Hurdle since making a successful British debut at Doncaster in mid-December, got the afternoon off to a rousing start for the punters as he edged past his stablemate Top Notch in the final strides to win by a neck.
Peace And Co could be backed at 7-1 for the juvenile hurdling championship after his 19-length success on Town Moor three months ago, but started at 2-1 on Friday and drew a roar from the crowd to match that given to Douvan and Faugheen on the opening day as Barry Geraghty drove him into a narrow lead well inside the final furlong. Hargam, Tony McCoy’s last chance to win a Triumph Hurdle, finished third, completing a 1-2-3 for the Nicky Henderson stable.
The winner remains unbeaten after three starts in Britain and is now top-priced at 14-1 with Coral for next year’s Champion Hurdle in a market headed by this year’s easy winner Faugheen at 6-4.
“They’ve been three extraordinarily good four-year-olds,” Henderson said. “They’ve looked the best all the way through, the only thought really was that the ground went against Hargam dramatically this morning and Top Notch came back into it. Peace And Co, I think he goes on anything.”
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