Tony ‘A.P’ McCoy of Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland is officially the best jump jockey of all time, a status he achieved on 27th of August 2002 when victory on Mighty Montefalco in a three mile hurdle at Uttoxeter gave him his 1,700th winner, passing the three year old record total of Richard Dunwoody. This achievement at the age of 28 means that A.P. McCoy has set a standard that is unlikely to ever be surpassed.

His first victory was with ‘Legal Steps’, at Thurles in March 1992, and this initial success in Ireland led to him racing in England. Since getting his British licence, and winning his first race in Exeter in 1994, he has broken many records, including a record 74 winners in 2004. The following season he was a champion jockey, which he managed to replicate in the following 12 seasons, during which time he also became the fastest jockey to reach the 1000 winner mark.

In 2004 he made the momentous decision to transfer to Jackdaws Castle, the state-of-the-art yard of trainer Jonjo O Neill and his landlord J.P. McManus, for whom he has continued to add to their list of victories. A.P has won the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase and King George VI Chase McCoy and has very few ambitions to achieve – except to ride 300 winners in a season and to win the Grand National.

The National has eluded him, but it is not something that he will give up on, having once famously said: ‘I suppose some people may regard me as a failure unless I win a National – I might even do so myself’, to which Carl Llewllyn, a twice National winner added ‘And then he’ll consider himself a failure if he doesn’t win two Nationals’. A.P. McCoy is indeed a hard self-taskmaster, so pre-race favourite Butlers Cabin, who he rode in the 2009 National achieving only 7th place will not have been in any way good enough for his own standards. One thing is for sure, A.P. McCoy will win the National – no man has ever been as determined.

Based on the last few years, the most likely scenario is that McCoy will ride a JP McManus horse for Jonjo O’Neill but we’ll have to wait to find out which one, but if you fancy an ante-post bet go to Paddy Power!