McCoy Reigns Supreme
An ad campaign has been running to show support for jockey Tony McCoy and his horse racing career achievements. All the support and over six hundred and fifty votes, saw McCoy walk away with the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. For the last fifty-seven years, this prestigious award has been awarded to numerous sportsmen, but has always eluded the horse racing community. The Personality of the Year award was therefore not only a significant moment in the career of Tony McCoy, but a historical moment for the horse racing industry.
When McCoy first embarked on his career as a jockey, he hoped to one day become a champion and be one of the best the sport has ever seen. Through his unmistakable talent and unwavering determination, McCoy has managed to hold onto his champion jockey status for the past fifteen years. After winning the 2010 Sports Personality of the Year Award, he has cemented himself as one of the top jockeys in the history of horse racing.
McCoy has been a jockey for twenty-one years and during this time he has ridden over three thousand three hundred horses to the winners circle, and been requested to race more than thirteen thousand races. His latest, most honorable victory was the 2010 Grand National, which is a race that is known worldwide as a prestigious event.
Tony McCoy humbly accepted his award, and when speaking to the press after the ceremony, commented that he regrets not mentioning the other nominees who were up for the prize and have achieved greatness in their own sports, and that he views Frankie Dettori and Lester Piggott as more deserving jockeys. But he still felt incredibly proud and honored to be voted as the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. McCoy went on to say that “Racing is a wonderful sport in lots of ways. Socially, it is an amazing day out. It brings a lot of people together and hopefully winning this award will encourage more people to watch our sport… Racing has meant so much to me in my life and career that if it has a positive effect for the sport, I would be very proud of that.”
