When everything goes right, when there is total harmony and a horse gives his all – those precious moments are what a partnership is all about. Eleanor Jones finds out about one unforgettable ride...
It might have been hard for AP McCoy to pick one race out of the 4,358 winners that secured him 20 consecutive champion jockey titles. However, it was the 2012 Cheltenham Gold Cup win on Synchronised that stands out from the rest.
“The Grand National is the more famous race for people who aren’t that into racing, but the Gold Cup is most definitely the most fulfilling ride,” he says. “I rode in a lot of Cheltenham Gold Cups, but was only lucky enough to win it twice. And there was a lot of history with Synchronised; his dam Mayasta was my first ride and winner for JP McManus in 1996 at Punchestown, then 16 years later, I won the Gold Cup on her son, who was bred by JP and his wife. He’s owned a lot of racehorses and when you buy one, you buy it to win the Gold Cup. He has never yet been able to buy one to win it, but his wife bred this one.”
Following the race, AP said of Synchronised that he was “all heart and will to win”.
“I’d describe him as being like me,” he says. “I don’t know if he was the most talented horse who won the Gold Cup, and he probably wasn’t the best looking, but in terms of his unbelievable mental strength and will to win, the mental and physical toughness – he had that in abundance, more than any horse.”
Synchronised ridden by AP (left) on his way to winning the Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup ahead of Long Run ridden by Sam Waley-Cohen (right) during the Cheltenham Festival.
AP was at the time a retained rider for JP McManus.
“It was the first time in my career I felt I’d done what I was employed to do,” he says. “I’d been an employed jockey for a few trainers but an owner had retained me to ride his horses and that was the time I felt I’d done what he’d employed me for.”
AP, Synchronised and Jonjo O’Neill with the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
“I think that day was the best feeling I had in horseracing. Maybe because I’d won the Grand National a couple of years before, and it was 15 years since I’d last won the Gold Cup, but it was the one time I thought, ‘Yes’.
“He was the sort who never looked like he was going to win, unless you knew him, and to this day, it was probably the best ride I’ve ever given a horse. That was definitely the one – the ride of my life.”
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