Yes
Terry Biddlecombe
Former champion jockey and Cheltenham Gold Cup winner
There's no doubt that Tony is the greatest jump jockey of all time. He has a tremendous will to come home first and is a born winner. You could see that exemplified when he got to 3,000 victories at Plumpton on Monday.
It was a wet day and he still got out there, made it down to 10st 4lb - his minimum weight - and ground out the win through mud and the rain. Added to Tony's determination is the fact that he's incredibly strong and a great judge of pace, and horses respond well to that. He's also the most dedicated jockey I've ever known and wins on horses he has no right to win on, and that says a lot.
Some critics says he's a determined rather than skilful jockey, but that's not something I agree with. He's got every skill in the book: he can go wide, or up the middle, and he's a brilliant reader of races too. His weight can be a killer, but he's got it down to a tee. It's so hard to maintain when you're a jockey, and Tony does a far better job of it than I ever did – I always wanted to live a little.
It's not just what he does on a horse that makes Tony a great jockey, though. He will quite often approach a trainer after a race and say how they can get a better performance out of a horse. He's a man of few words but when he does speak, you listen.
That kind of advice is a great boon for a trainer because it's the jockeys themselves who are the best people to tell you how a horse reacts in race conditions. He's a lovely witty man away from the track, too, and a good example to others: he loves his wife, daughter and parents.
I think he can certainly go and improve his tally because if he isn't at the peak of his powers, he's not far off. After he had won on Restless D'Artaix he would have been thinking about where his next winner was coming from.
Looking ahead, only Tony will know when it's time to retire. It's the body that tells a jockey when it's over; you start to struggle making weight and you know it's time. But he won't be thinking about that now, he'll be on a high until after Cheltenham.
The one thing he hasn't won is the Grand National. Knowing Tony, it will be playing on his mind, but I don't think his failure to win it is a blight on his legacy because so much of that race comes down to luck.
It's a shame that Tony perhaps hasn't got more recognition in the wider sporting world; his record is so overwhelming that I can't see anybody breaking it in my lifetime. If anyone was that dominant in football or athletics they'd get far more acclaim, and racing is a harder sport. In football you just need to keep fit and steer clear of injuries, but Tony goes hard for 12 months with maybe two weeks off in Spain.
It's very hard to compare Tony with Lester Piggott because jump and Flat racing are so different but in their own spheres, they're on a par.
No
Tom Segal
Horse racing expert and professional tipster
The figures suggest that McCoy is the greatest jump jockey of all time and he's certainly the most determined to win. He's the best jockey from Monday to Friday and brilliant on bad horses in bad races. But in terms of aesthetics, I don't think McCoy is even in the top four.
For me, he doesn't win enough big races anymore. Yes, McCoy is a wonderful talent and clearly a very, very good jockey, but if I wanted someone to ride my horse in a big race, I'd go elsewhere.
On the big stage I'd say Ruby Walsh is No1 by a mile, followed by Barry Geraghty, Timmy Murphy and John Francome. The important thing about Walsh is that he is a more sympathetic and patient jockey than McCoy and in a big race that can be crucial: you've got to get a horse settled and in the right positions so it can jump and travel well.
McCoy can be a bit too forceful because so many of his victories have been on bad horses that need to be told what to do and almost bullied into going for victory. But good horses don't need to be cajoled into winning, they need to be relaxed and the worst thing you can do to an elite horse during a race is be too aggressive and push it into fences, getting it to do too much too soon. McCoy is suited more to a horse that's like a tank and in big races you don't often get rides like that.
I think his failure to win the National is down to bad luck rather than any lack of skill: far worse jockeys than McCoy have won the National. He's just been in the wrong place at the wrong time on many occasions.
McCoy's rate of victories has slowed of late, although it's clear that he's still an extremely prolific jockey. His will to win is still there, but he doesn't ride for the Pipes anymore and his main trainer, Jonjo O'Neill, hasn't had that many good horses recently so he doesn't get as many good rides as he used to. I still believe McCoy is more than capable of getting to 4,000 winners, although that doesn't necessarily makes him the greatest jockey of all time.
It depends whether you prefer your Glenn Hoddles to your Peter Reids, your David Gowers to your Geoff Boycotts, your skilful jockeys to your determined riders. I happen to side with the former, such as Walsh, but whatever McCoy's strengths and weaknesses you can't deny he is a good guy and an extremely popular figure: you can see that in the reaction to this week's achievement.
Tom Segal is a tipster for the Racing Post
