Friday 12 June 2015 10:20, UK
Sky Sports' Ed Chamberlin pays tribute to retiring racing legend AP McCoy ahead of his Sandown farewell on Saturday.
“I'm not sure what all the fuss is about".
That is what I predict AP McCoy will say on Saturday, his final day as a jump jockey. However, not even he can play this down.
Saturday is not just a big day for racing. It's a big day for sport. Sandown Park will be packed to the rafters to pay tribute to one of this country's greatest ever sportsmen. A rare day for racing to savour, being at the forefront of the sporting agenda.
Horse racing on the front and back pages of the newspapers. Film crews and reporters from all the major news networks with lenses trained on one of racing's own.
What a day it's going to be. What an honour it is, as a football man from outside the racing family, to have been asked to host it for Sandown Racecourse.
A large part of me is dreading it. Following AP's rise and rise has been a huge part of my life. Mind you, I won't miss the phone calls from hospital or waiting to see if he gets up after a fall. Being sworn to secrecy as he reveals it's not just broken ribs but a fractured collar bone and a punctured lung to boot. And yet he still plans to ride again tomorrow.
I cannot imagine how Chanelle and both of their families must feel. The end to the career in the saddle must involve a sense of immense relief tinged with huge sadness.
Likewise, Saturday will be a celebration mixed with sadness too. The racing landscape will change forever on Sunday morning with no 'AP McCoy' against a horse's name in the newspaper.
The summer will be different with no McCoy four-timers on a mundane Wednesday evening at Worcester or him lifting home an absolute rogue in a seller at Newton Abbot. His presence elevated not only drab meetings but King Georges, Cheltenhams, Aintrees. Without McCoy in the green and gold even the 2016 crown jewels are a strange thought.
Everyone has their favourite AP McCoy memory. His riding achievements have been well documented in the mass of superb coverage since he made the announcement on board Mr Mole at Newbury in February.
I will never forget the ride he gave Synchronised and what it meant to him to win the Gold Cup for JP McManus and Jonjo O'Neill. Winning the Grand National on Don't Push It was more about him.
An unforgettable day and an ever better celebration afterwards.
Then there was the inspiration gained whilst missing my only Cheltenham Festival in the last 20 years whilst hooked up on a chemotherapy drip. After the low of him getting beaten on Binocular in the Champion Hurdle (who he thought was an absolute certainty) to the high of his miraculous success on Wichita Lineman. The cancer ward at Southampton General Hospital has never witnessed scenes like it!
It's sad to think this is the last time I will interview AP as a jockey. In my 10 years as a presenter on Sky Sports News I’ve spoken to him countless times. He never turned down an interview, whatever the circumstances, which is typical of the man.
Saturday marks the end of a glorious 20-year chapter in the history of racing. It should be celebrated by all and sundry. We will never see his like again.
It didn't always go to plan due to his mischievous nature - one time many years ago I interviewed a member of the royal family with McCoy hiding in a cupboard - or the onset of giggles - most embarrassingly when Georgie Thompson and I spoke to him from Sky Sports HQ after his Champion Hurdle win on Brave Inca.
He was wearing a tie that he claimed was meant to resemble Brave Inca's colours but looked more like a swirly strip of carpet from Courts. As you may have seen during the Grand National coverage, this man claims to have no interest in clothes or fashion yet has a walk-in wardrobe that's bigger than my house.
His dress sense has marginally improved over the years and he has certainly changed as a character.
Racing will not realise what a superb ambassador they’ve had had until he is no longer in the saddle, booting home the winners, writing the sport’s headlines.
Just look at the amount of interviews he's done and autographs he's signed since announcing his retirement. AP always has time for anyone, be it a fellow sporting great or a kid by the paddock at Sedgefield.
Even more remarkably, everyone likes him, from his fiercest rivals to my late grandmother. How many other sporting greats can you say that about?
Yes he can still be grumpy, very grumpy, especially on the golf course. But for a man so driven and single-minded as McCoy it's remarkable the way he has handled himself in public. People say he's unrecognisable from the miserable figure who to many in the outside world sulked after the tragic loss of Valiramix at the 2002 Cheltenham Festival. That's only partly true.
The competitive fire inside him has raged at the same rate ever since.
When Synchronised lost his life in the Grand National, he was inconsolable again. When injury denied him the chance to go for 300 winners this season, he was in a dark place. But few people saw it. He's learnt how to handle himself in the glare of publicity that follows him around.
Having said that, little Archie and Eve have mellowed him away from racing and he has life in better perspective. Jonjo O'Neill has played a huge part in that too.
AP always refers back to the 2005 Grand National. He and Clan Royal were cruising at the head of the field only to be taken out by a loose horse on the approach to Becher's Brook second time round. There were shots of McCoy in the weighing room afterwards with his head in his hands. Distraught.
On the way out he said to the trainer 'That's some bad day we've had'.
Jonjo, who himself has beaten cancer, replied: 'A bad day is when you're lying in hospital and the doctor comes to see you and tells you you're going to die.'
Saturday will be an emotional day for the champ. He's a much more emotional guy than people think. He doesn't want to retire. In fact he's dreading it. Yet his timing is perfect.
There is nothing worse in sport than a 'great' going on too long. Not only is he getting out in one piece but he's also bowing out at the peak of his powers. That will add even further to his legend. 20 jockeys’ titles also has a great ring to it. 20 titles in a row is an incredible achievement in the most brutal of sports.
It represents one of this country's greatest ever sporting achievements. 20 successive titles ranks right up there with individuals like Steve Redgrave's five Olympic golds, Mo Farah at London 2012, Roger Bannister's four-minute mile, Andy Murray winning Wimbledon et al.
When you walk in to McCoy towers near Lambourn, the first thing you see amongst the family photos in the hallway is the 2010 Sports Personality of the Year award.
In a house packed full of trophies, this is the one award that best sums up AP.
He’s not only a great sportsman but also an engaging personality. Here we have a champion with warmth and humour, an ordinary lad from County Antrim who reached the top through sheer hard work and his natural talent. He’s a jump jockey that managed to transcend his own sport.
Saturday marks the end of a glorious 20-year chapter in the history of racing. It should be celebrated by all and sundry. We will never see his like again.
