For the most part, Tony McCoy’s retirement from the saddle in the spring played out impeccably, with victories at Cheltenham, Aintree and Leopardstown along the way, but the most successful jump jockey of all time did not manage to stop at a winner. Four months later, a brief appendix to McCoy’s record-breaking career tied up that loose end too, as the former champion steered Gannicus to victory here in the Leger Legends Stakes.
It was, McCoy insisted, very much a one-off, the result of persistent pressure from the former trainer Jack Berry, a tireless fund-raiser for riders’ charities. He also needed a thin strip of leather that resembled a belt as much as a saddle in order to weigh out at 11st 5lb. But if the pounds are slowly building up, his jockeys’ instincts remain sharp, and he seized control of the race from a long way out on the way to a two-length victory.
Gannicus was, inevitably, sent off favourite, at 7-2, and while Billy Newnes, who retired in 1996, seemed to stop riding briefly half a furlong out on the runner-up Next Stop, perhaps as a result of mistaking a marker for the winning post, it made no difference to the result. McCoy’s career total of winners under all codes advanced by one to 4,358 and that, almost certainly, is where it will rest.
“It felt a little different last night when I was going through my racing bag,” McCoy said afterwards. “Trying to get things together, the right gear, stuff that I had not seen for five or six months up in my attic.
“It was a great fun day, all the lads enjoyed it and I beat Johnny Murtagh [the three-times Derby winner], something I was always going to take great satisfaction in doing.
“I looked at the horse’s form and he seemed to stay well enough for I kept near the front and was not going to give it away. My great friend Carl Llewellyn always said I was an instinct rider, so why change?
“It felt weird crossing the winning line, which I got a real thrill out of. The satisfaction was at the winning post. There was no pressure today but I wanted to win. I knew the only thing which would make me happy was winning. All the fun is in winning.”
McCoy’s saddle, auctioned beforehand as the last he would ever use in a race, was sold for £15,000 at a pre-race lunch that raised nearly £55,000 for the Injured Jockeys’ Fund and Jack Berry House, a centre for injured jockeys in Malton.
“I only rode today because I got bullied into it by Jack Berry,” McCoy said. “It was a thank you because of all the hard work he has done for the Injured Jockeys’ fund over the years.
“My riding career is over after today and it is nice to go out on a winner. I’ve been riding out the last few mornings and I will ride out during the winter. There’ll be a bit of a buzz on the schooling mornings, I’ll probably school a few and that’ll give me a feeling that I’d like to be riding then, but it’s not about looking back, it’s about looking forward. I had a very privileged career but hopefully my next one will be better.”
William Hill are offering Order Of St George, the ante-post favourite for Saturday’s St Leger, at 9-4 “with a run” following speculation that Aidan O’Brien’s colt could be rerouted to the Irish equivalent at The Curragh on Sunday. The field for the final English Classic of the season will be confirmed following the 48-hour declaration stage on Thursday morning.
Kevin Ackerman, the chief executive of Towcester racecourse, and Michael Stainton, a jockey with four winners from 60 rides during the current Flat season, were both found in breach of the British Horseracing Authority’s anti-corruption rules by the Authority’s disciplinary panel on Wednesday. David Greenwood, a former owner, and Kenneth Mackay, who is a current registered owner, were also found in breach, but Claire Murray, a former licensed jockey, was cleared on all charges.
The case centred on six Flat races on all-weather tracks in the winter of 2011-12 in which the geldingAd Vitam, owned by Greenwood, was a runner. In a summary of the panel’s findings published on Wednesday, Greenwood was found to have conspired with Stainton to run the horse down the field in four of the races “for handicapping purposes”, while both Ackerman and Mackay were found to have been aware that Ad Vitam was a non-trier and then laid the horse to lose on a betting exchange.
The full reasons for the panel’s finding and the penalties for those found guilty will be published at a later date. Deliberately “stopping” a horse will result in a ban from the sport in almost every case, however, as will seeking to profit from inside information via lay bets on an exchange. Greenwood, meanwhile, is already banned from racing indefinitely as a result of his refusal to assist the BHA’s investigation into the case.
The BHA will not comment on the case until the findings and penalty are known, but Stewart-Moore Solicitors, acting for both Ackerman and Greenwood, issued a statement on their behalf which said that their clients were “profoundly shocked” by the finding.
“The brief document released by the panel in support of its decision makes very little sense,” the statement said. “Indeed the reasoning set out therein appears to be fundamentally flawed. It is very hard to fathom, for example, how Mr Ackerman has been found guilty of a corrupt or fraudulent practice in circumstances where the panel has accepted that the BHA failed to establish the central allegation that there was a conspiracy.
“Until the panel has released its reasons for this decision it is not possible for our clients to respond further save to say that there will be an appeal. It has taken the panel the best part of two months to provide the cobbled-together document it has published today. It is to be hoped that its members will now get their act together and publish their written reasons without further delay in order that the appeal process can begin.”
Paul Struthers, the chief executive of the Professional Jockeys’ Association, said that the PJA is also puzzled by the finding. “We do not understand the findings or on what basis they can have been reached or why, nine weeks to the day after the substantive hearing concluded, a confusing two-page summary is all that’s been handed down,” Struthers said.
“Given the confusing nature of the findings, it is difficult to know what this means for Michael Stainton but we are pleased that Claire Murray has been entirely acquitted, albeit only after a nine-week wait. It is our view that she should never have faced charges.
“It will be interesting to read how the panel justify their findings and if there is any substantial penalty for Michael he will definitely appeal, although financial constraints are likely to be a major issue. Until such time as those reasons are published, there is little more to say.”
Struthers added that Stainton has no comment to make at the current time.
