Tony McCoy should have taken a break from race-riding even before his announcement last week that he would rest for a fortnight, according to the trainer Jonjo O’Neill, a frequent employer of McCoy and a former champion jump jockey himself.
O’Neill also offered a vivid description of what happened when the younger man was stood down at Wetherby last month, when a racecourse doctor decided he was not fit to ride again that afternoon.
McCoy had just ridden a winner on Goodwood Mirage but popped out a collarbone in so doing, aggravating injuries he had sustained in a fall the week before. Even so, he might have tried to take three more rides that day if left to his own devices.
“He couldn’t get his colours on,” O’Neill recalled on Tuesday. “That was the only thing that stopped him, really. He went in to get the colours on for the next race and he just couldn’t get them on. I think the doctor walked in and said, ‘Hello.’”
McCoy was passed fit a few days later but has not looked at his powerful best since then and finally put his hands up last Thursday, conceding he would be out of action until at least the end of next week. O’Neill, who reported the rider has gone abroad to recuperate in warmer climes, suggested it would be a mistake for McCoy to rush himself back into action for the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury a fortnight on Saturday.
“He’s very sore, very sore. I wish he’d given up a week or two earlier, to be honest, because you could see he was very sore but it’s easy for us all to give advice. If he wasn’t like that, he wouldn’t be who he is today, so you’ve got to accept that.”
O’Neill was speaking during a media morning at his stables to promote Saturday’s Paddy Power Gold Cup here, in which he will run John’s Spirit, a 10-1 shot to repeat his victory of last year. “He’s more settled this year and I think he’s grown up a lot. He’s a much happier horse. He was always plagued with sore shins all his life and we fired him and done all sorts with him but he was still a bit light of bone. But that’s seemed to settle down this time, touch wood. He seems in grand form.”
The trainer named the Lexus Chase as the next target for Shutthefrontdoor, an impressive winner at Carlisle on Monday. Should he fare well enough in the Irish race over Christmas, he may become O’Neill’s third Gold Cup contender, alongside Taquin Du Seuil and Holywell.
Cheltenham’s £45m redevelopment appears, impressively, to continue on time and on budget and without disruption to the racing schedule. But Ian Renton, who manages the track for the Jockey Club, had to defend last month’s decision to agree a three-year deal with the Malta-based bookmaker Betway to sponsor the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the March Festival.
Following criticism on social media, Betway put out a statement on Monday confirming it was in dispute with one of its clients. That drew attention to its terms and conditions which appear to allow a customer’s balance to be “confiscated” in a wide range of circumstances.
“We carried out our normal due diligence on any new sponsors,” Renton said. “We’ll work with them, if there are any issues, to ensure they’re resolved. I obviously can’t comment on individual cases. That is something between them and the individual punter.”
Renton accepted that Cheltenham, enjoying such a high standing in the sport, has a duty to be careful about its associations. “We’ve looked at a number of sponsors in the past which we have not taken on board because we don’t believe they’ve been the right sponsors for Cheltenham but Betway are a newish company in this country and we look forward to working with them going forward.
“We work closely with a number of betting firms to find replacement sponsors and with non-betting operators as well. Betway came to our attention some months ago and we worked closely with them to look at a sponsorship arrangement and have concluded what I think is a good arrangement for them and for us.”
Betway is not registered with IBAS, an arbitration service familiar to British punters, if not exactly loved by them. Renton was asked if he had discussed with Betway the question of whether they should submit to IBAS’s verdicts. “With all our betting companies we work with, we look to ensure that we do have the right arrangements in place and we will continue to discuss that with Betway as well,” he said.
