AP McCoy reveals the horse he’d like to trip at Cheltenham – ‘he will win’
Legendary jockey AP McCoy has given his verdict on which horse he would love to ride at Cheltenham as the record-breaking champion jockey gave his festival tips
AP McCoy has given his thoughts ahead of the Cheltenham Festival(Image: PA)
Legendary jockey AP McCoy has revealed the one horse he would love to ride at the Cheltenham Festival.
Record-breaking champion jockey McCoy, 51, rode 31 festival winners, including two Gold Cups, three Champions Hurdles and the Champion Chase. McCoy retired in 2015 but has continued to be heavily involved with racing punditry, lending his specialist knowledge in analysis.
McCoy was speaking at the KGK Community Development x BOYLE Sports Cheltenham Preview Night in Youghal, Cork, where he gave his answer to which horse he would most like to ride at the festival.
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“If I could ride one horse this year it would be Majborough. The Champion Chase is the best race to ride in,” he said. “It’s the most exciting, riding a fast two-miler.
“Just as long as Mark Walsh goes really fast on him from the start he’ll win. If he had have gone really fast in the Arkle last year, he could have made all the mistakes in the world. He’d still have been far enough ahead, he’d have won. So I’d just bounce out and go flat out, because he’s got such high cruising speed.
“When you’re riding a horse that’s able to do that in a two-mile shift, but you can’t afford to make mistakes because they just keep going all the time.
“I just think he’s just a better horse but as long as he goes fast on him from the start, if he makes the odd mistake, he’s big and ignorant enough that he’s been able to survive this long and just give nothing else a chance to compete.”
Looking ahead to some of the other eye-catching races of the festival, McCoy gave his take on what is a very open Champion Hurdle without Nicky Henderson’s two star hurdlers Constitution Hill and Sir Gino.
He said: “The New Lion will probably win by default. I know Golden Ace did win in Newcastle, and she did win the champion hurdle last year. A lot of people have been thinking, “Oh, she’s underrated,” and she is underrated for a mare that’s won, but I thought Lossiemouth came out top of a pretty hard race in Leopardstown.
“Brighterdaysahead has obviously been to Cheltenham – she’s a good mare. Things probably didn’t work out for her best, and she is probably better than the run she’s showed in Cheltenham.
“But The New Lion, I know he wasn’t impressive winning the last race, he only beat Brentford Hope (now retired) who is rated 135. But they did crawl, then sprinted and that did teach him plenty and he’ll just be better than the rest of them, to be honest.
“I think that he’s one of those horses. Obviously, he won the two-mile-five race, the likes of Hardy Eustace and Istabraq have. I’m not saying he’s that good but I don’t think the horses he’ll be running against will be as good as the horses they were running against. That’s why I think he’ll win.”
Another exciting race on Tuesday sees Lulamba and Kopek Des Bordes go head-to-head in the Arkle. “Lulamba’s a good horse, but I think he’s a 3-miler. I don’t think he’s the pace,” McCoy said.
“He reminds me a lot of Kicking King – he’s that type of horse. He could end up in the King George and could end up running in the Gold Cup. I thought he was a bit slow jumping on and Kopek Des Bordes is just a faster horse.
“Obviously, it would be ideal if he had more experience, but it can be done. I just think he’s a faster horse. If you’re asking me which horse I could ride in the Arkle, I’d definitely ride Kopek.”
