Anthony Peter McCoy, or "A.P." as he is affectionately known amongst the racing fraternity, is nothing short of a phenomenon. 

Born in Co. Antrim in 1974, Tony McCoy arrived in England as a promising, but largely unheard of conditional jockey with Toby Balding in August 1994.  By the end of the season however, he was being tipped as the next champion jockey after routing his opponents to win the conditional's crown with a record 74 winners. 

His career since has been nothing short of extraordinary with an unbeaten sequence of jockey's titles stretching back to 1996.  Indeed, he has eclipsed the career total of the legendary John Francome in little over 6 seasons in the saddle, and in the process he has beaten Richard Dunwoody to the mantle of fastest 1,000 winners, not merely by a few days, but by an incredible 6 years!  In the 2003/2004 season he notched up his 2000^th winner aboard Magical Bailiwick at Wincanton.   

Most of the high prestige races have fallen to the quiet Irishman, including the famous Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle double completed aboard Mr Mulligan and the yard's Make A Stand in 1997.  His unwavering focus and steely determination have seen Tony rake in staggering seasonal totals, including an incredible 261 winners in the 1997/98 season (smashing Peter Scudamore's record of 221 - a record that many thought would never be beaten) despite injury curtailing the closing weeks.  A P's main ambition at the moment is to ride 300 winners in a season.  After he broke Sir Gordon Richards record of 269 winners on Valfonic at Warwick in April 2002 it has made him even hungrier for 300.  A P set the record at 289 winners for the season when winning the attheraces Gold Cup aboard Bounce Back on the final day of the season. 

Many pundits regard Tony McCoy as the finest National Hunt Jockey of all time, and few would care to argue - his almost supernatural strength and skill bringing about even the most unlikely victories.  It is thus unsurprising that he has quickly become the "Punters Pal", and the fear of Bookmakers nation-wide. 

Despite breaking almost every record in the book, AP's hunger and determination remains undiminished, and there is no reason why he should not continue his unprecedented domination of the sport in the years to come, and perhaps become the most successful jump jockey of all time. 

At the end of the 2003/2004 season it is sad to see the end of a successful partnership with A P taking the decision to join Jonjo O'Neill's stable at Jackdaws Castle.  A P and Martin have been the faces that have dominated the sport of National Hunt racing for the past eight seasons and they have broken record after record.  In his last season at Pond House 116 of his 209 winners were trained by the championship team.