Retirement has not always come easily for AP McCoy. At his first few Cheltenham Festivals, he struggled with the idea of not being in the saddle for horses he once rode to famous victories.
As those horses have all made their way into their own retirement, life after racing has become easier to bear, to the extent that, were he still riding, he is not sure he would even take part at this week’s Festival.
McCoy is angry and embarrassed, his vitriol aimed at the British Horseracing Authority for its new whip rules, ones he worries will become the headline of this week’s racing.
“I feel so lucky that I’m not a jockey any more,” he said. “Maybe I live on a different planet now I’ve retired, I probably do, I’m just a chippy f***ing ex-jockey.
“I have to be careful sounding like someone all jockeys should listen to, but why would you turn up? If none of them go, it’s not great is it?”
Under the new BHA rules, riders cannot whip a horse more than seven times in a race, a regulation which will be in place at a major meet for the first time this week. There are also stronger penalties for incorrect use of the whip, in particular above shoulder height.
McCoy is all for change and focusing on animal welfare, but he takes umbrage with the specific rules on where the jockey can carry a whip.
“I know Brian Hughes [the leading jump jockey] was banned for hitting his horse once,” said the 20-time champion.
“He’s the most mechanically correct jockey that’s been riding for a long, long time. It must have been height, but it’s just embarrassing. It’s like asking Rory McIlroy to not lift the club. Okay, he can swing it, but can’t get it over a certain part of the head.
“Everyone wants the whip to be used in the correct manner. There are things in racing where the penalties need to be severe. The jockeys know that and they’re not against that.”
McCoy has promised on air with ITV Racing to repeatedly push his disdain for the whip rule overhaul throughout the course of the Festival. He puts it in contrast to the 2021 Festival, where Rachael Blackmore ended up as the leading jockey with six wins and again last year, where she became the first female jockey to win the Gold Cup.
“You always want reasons for your sport to be on the front pages for the right reasons,” he said. “My worry for the sport is that I’m already talking about this. I’m joining the group that I hate, that knock horse racing, but, unfortunately, that’s been brought about by the governing body.
“It’s the biggest embarrassment there’s been for a long time. I feel sorry for the jockeys. The BHA are meant to be doing what’s right for the sport, meant to be a leader. But every time I see an interview by someone from the organisation, it’s embarrassing.
“What is the BHA? A governing body that can bring in and implement a rule on a jockey, but can’t do anything to make the sport better. The BHA will get it publicly every second I’m on TV!
“I’m not a know-all, I don’t have all the answers, but what I do know is what they have implemented is farcical. It’s the way they’re wanting the whip used — you can’t raise your hand.”
A litany of bans have already been dished out to jockeys, some race positions reconfigured in the aftermath. The concern for McCoy is that a Cheltenham winner could be declared, his owner taking to the winners’ enclosure, only for that result to be rescinded in the ensuing days.
“There’s a possibility it could get disqualified,” he said. “What happens if a win gets taken off them the following week? And this sport doesn’t happen without the owners. That’s a worry.”
