Horse racing-McCoy to ride on as wife sharpens her scissors
LONDON, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Champion jockey Tony McCoy will have to reckon with his wife, and hide her scissors, if he is seriously thinking about riding 5,000 winners after taking his career tally to an astonishing 4,000 on Thursday. The 39-year-old Irishman, the most successful jump jockey of all time, said on Friday he had no immediate retirement plans as talk turned to the possibility of him targeting another 1,000 wins. "I'm not sure what will happen and as a jump jockey you take it day by day, and take it as you find it," he told the BBC. "But I know it's a sport that is very physically and mentally demanding and to enjoy it, you need to be successful and as long as I continue to be successful, who knows?," he added. Wife Chanelle, who was in the winners' enclosure at Towcester with their two young children on Thursday when McCoy drove 6-4 favourite Mountain Tunes to a narrow victory, provided a dissenting voice. "I would quite confidently say that 5,000 is unattainable and he knows that himself," she said. "The thought of him riding until he is 44 or 45, no. I will personally take his licence and get the scissors at it because I wouldn't like to see him going at it until he's 45, purely from a safety point of view." McCoy has had his fair share of falls since his first win in 1992. Champion jockey for the past 18 seasons, he has broken middle and lower vertebrae, both shoulder blades, both collar bones, ribs, ankles, cheekbones, wrist and leg. "He's had a great career. I would love him to stop after this year," said father Peadar. "The only thing is he might be tempted in trying to make it 20 titles." McCoy's next ride is at Southwell on Friday. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Justin Palmer)
