Perhaps the biggest relief was that it bore a close resemblance and as AP McCoy quickly deadpanned: “Some of my friends would say it has a better personality”.
The man from Moneyglass, Co Antrim, is the first human to have ever been honoured with a statue at Cheltenham and his life-size bronze, by the Dublin-based sculptor Paul Ferriter, joins only those of the equine greats Arkle, Dawn Run, Best Mate and Golden Miller.
Cheltenham’s chairman Robert Waley-Cohen remarked that perhaps the most appropriate metal he might have used would have been iron, given his latest subject’s near indestructability.
“It looks just like me,” said McCoy. “Initially I wasn’t sure if I was going to be looking like I do now, or two stone lighter. It’s a wonderful honour anyway and never in my wildest dreams did I think it would end up happening. Very few people are fortunate enough to have a statue made of them when they’re still alive, so hopefully it stays that way.”
Hung up his boots
It is almost two years since the 20-times champion jockey hung up his boots for the final time. McCoy’s single-minded nature was showcased in the recent documentary
Being AP
and many have wondered if he would struggle to cope with retirement.
“All the time I was a jockey you had that pressure but it motivated you,” he said. “It’s very difficult to recreate that. Now you wake up, all the pressure has gone, you kind of miss that, you miss the challenge.
“I schooled some horses for Jonjo O’Neill last week and he said that it looked like [JP McManus’s retained jockey] Barry Geraghty wasn’t going to make the festival because of injury and that I should ride. I asked him if he was winding me up and he wasn’t. I said ‘don’t tempt me’. For that split second I thought about it but I know my decision was the right one.
“The only person I know who made a successful comeback was Our Lord, well maybe Lester Piggott but he’s the closest thing this sport has to God.
“The only time you’ll be seeing me with a whip in my hand is right here in this statue,” he said.
The 42-year-old’s replica had been hidden underneath a green and gold hooped blanket, indicating the colours of his long-serving employer McManus. The Limerick man was present at the ceremony, along with McCoy’s wife Chanelle, and his children.
It is right next to the paddock and Cheltenham’s north entrance, and he said that incoming spectators could “throw things at me, or whatever they want”.
First and second home
It later seemed rather appropriate that McManus should own the first and second home in the day’s feature race, the
Champion
Hurdle, in what was his 50th Cheltenham winner. McCoy could not get his congratulations into his close friend immediately as he was carrying out his on-air duties as an ITV pundit.
Neither Buveur d'Air nor My Tent Or Yours were trained in Ireland, but by old Etonian Nicky Henderson.
The visiting party still ended day one ahead, with four winners to the home team’s three.
