Tony McCoy (photo by racingfotos.com)
Tony McCoy will miss the new big prize-money meeting at Newton Abbot on Friday, 10 October 2014 as well as the weekend action after suffering a crashing fall at Worcester on Thursday.
McCoy, who it was originally expected would miss Friday but be back on Saturday, tweeted (@AP_McCoy): “Feeling fairly sore this morning after my fall yesterday, won’t be back riding until after the weekend….. He got me good!!”
McCoy is famously quoted for saying “You don’t have to be Einstein to see that horse racing is dangerous. Those two ambulances driving behind you aren’t there for the scenery” and the 18-times champion jockey was in need of their services after parting company with his mount in the Injured Jockeys Fund 50th Anniversary Maiden Hurdle.
The perennial champion jockey fell heavily when the Rebecca Curtis-trained Keep Presenting crashed out at the first flight of hurdles, and to add injury to insult, he received a kick for his troubles too. Noel Fehily riding St Johns Point, was also brought down in the incident and was seen to be waving frantically for the ambulance crew as McCoy lay flat out after being trampled on.
McCoy received lengthy treatment from Worcester’s medical team, but he was able to walk into an on-course ambulance for further treatment and was brought back to the track’s medical room for observation. His weighing room colleagues were amazed to see him back in the changing room, but he subsequently did go to hospital under his own steam for precautionary x-rays to his chest.
McCoy is also quoted as having said “There is no place for arrogance or complacency in racing because you are up there one minute and on your backside the next.” While he may have been ‘on his backside’ yesterday, McCoy will be expected at Newton Abbot today where course officials are paying a special tribute to racing’s most successful jump jockey. A bronze sculpture of McCoy, produced by former jockey Willie Newton, will be unveiled before the start of the first race at around 2.30pm local time and will be situated in the weighing room.
“AP McCoy provides such excitement at every fixture he attends here at Newton Abbot and we know it’s the same at racecourses across the country,” said managing director Patrick Masterson. “He’s become synonymous with horse racing and is an example of the determination to succeed in the sport. We’re thrilled to be able to unveil this at our final fixture.”
McCoy rode his 4,000th winner at Towcester in November 2013 and has secured more wins at Newton Abbot than any other racecourse. He brought up his 100 for this season at the course aboard Arabic History and is now closing in on 150 winners in what could turn out, even by his standards, to be a stellar campaign.
