Tony McCoy Quotes

Tony McCoy

Profession : Athlete

Birth : May 4, 1974

Many of us in the jockeys' room are wasting to ride many pounds below our natural weight, but all the while you are doing that, you also want to ensure that you are as strong as possible so that you can give your mount every possible chance in a race.

Tony McCoy

There are many tough sides to being a jockey. Injury is something we all dread, but spending lengthy periods in the bath or the sauna just to shed a few pounds can be an exhausting and draining experience.

Tony McCoy

I know from sitting around with injuries how difficult life will be without racing and riding winners.

Tony McCoy

I have seen countless colleagues struggle to come to terms with retirement. I learned a lot from Richard Dunwoody when he was riding, and I completely understand why he took off and undertook what most people consider mad challenges.

Tony McCoy

I feel pressure every day. It is only pressure that I put on myself, but I would expect all professional sportspeople to feel pressure to perform their best whenever they are at work.

Tony McCoy

I get butterflies before going out to ride every day, but they disappear as soon as I am on a horse, and I think that is the same for most jockeys. Then it is just down to you and the horse, and there is a certain freedom in that.

Tony McCoy

If you ask most trainers who have ridden which pressure is greater - watching your horse or riding it - they will tell you it is harder watching it because you have no control over what happens.

Tony McCoy

By the nature of the sport and the danger we face daily, we are very close knit. Some of us have spent most of our lives together. To give you an example, having spent two decades sitting next to Richard Johnson and seeing him virtually every day, I have probably spent more time with him than I have my family, and he the same.

Tony McCoy

I could never have ridden 4,000 winners without loving my job, and If I ever get to the point where I'm not loving it, I'll stop.

Tony McCoy

Really racing is about the horses, not me. You can't do it without the horses, and they are the big players as are the lads who look after them, and they rarely get a mention.

Tony McCoy

Essentially, I am a dreamer. I've dreamed all my life. When I started, I dreamed I'd be Champion because it is a sport that is all about the people who win the most, and I have a fear of not winning.

Tony McCoy

I don't know which is stronger: the thrill of winning or the fear of failure. I don't know which one affects me most. I don't know where the middle is.

Tony McCoy

I've ridden 3,651 winners, if that's any good to you. I don't count the falls. I count the winners.

Tony McCoy

I'm very lucky that I love what I do. I've never thought of it as work. I've never done it for the money.

Tony McCoy

Most days, I have a slice of toast, then lie in a hot bath for an hour to get up a sweat. I have a sauna at the racecourse and then go and ride. On the way home, I might stop at a service station and have a bar of chocolate and a Diet Coke. And that's it, basically.

Tony McCoy

I probably don't look healthy, but I have never got to the stage where I thought I was going to pass out.

Tony McCoy

I think I've always used the whip in the correct way. I see marked horses every day, and it's not a pretty sight, but I've never marked a horse. Never.

Tony McCoy

During every race, an ambulance trails the riders around the course. You know that sometimes you are going to end up in the back of that ambulance.

Tony McCoy

When I started off riding, you dream about being champion jockey. Then I wanted to be champion jockey again. Then I wanted to ride 200 winners in a season. Then, when there was a chance of riding more winners than Richard Dunwoody, that was my goal.

Tony McCoy

A lot of healing is in the mind. I'm not talking about serious illnesses like cancer. I'm talking about ordinary broken bones. Healing begins in the head. You have to convince yourself you can do it.

Tony McCoy