After 23 years and 4,348 winners Tony McCoy’s astonishing career will be completed by two more rides here on Saturday, when a sellout crowd of 18,000 will surely give him a hero’s send-off regardless of what happens on the track. But they will, of course, hope for at least one more chance to cheer him home in a driving finish, and perhaps the best bet of the day is that his two mounts, Mr Mole and Box Office, will both be sent off as favourites.
Box Office is the aptly named animal expected to have the privilege of being the very last racehorse to carry McCoy into action. “He’s an absolute certainty,” was the jocular response of his trainer, Jonjo O’Neill, when asked to assess his chance, though the truth is that Box Office comes here with a dented reputation and quite a lot to prove.
“He’s been a bit disappointing, his last couple of runs,” O’Neill said. “We expected better when he was seventh at Cheltenham and he didn’t really pick up on that at Liverpool. I don’t know what to make of him now. I’m more hopeful than confident.”
Indeed O’Neill added that Box Office “may not even run” because the thinking in light of his last two flops is that he needs some give in the ground, whereas Sandown’s turf was officially “good to firm” in places on Friday. O’Neill has been assured that plenty of water has been put down on the course and he will keep an open mind until he arrives on Saturday, having spent Friday at the sales in Cheltenham.
Friday’s race-times suggest that the watering here may have had rather more effect than was anticipated, to the evident annoyance of Charlie Hills, whose Commemorative was a most disappointing favourite in the Classic Trial. But one man’s disaster is another man’s silver lining and O’Neill sounded newly optimistic about Box Office on hearing this news.
Box Office was last night trading as the clear 4-1 favourite for his handicap hurdle at 4.25pm. Mr Mole is the same price for his Grade One chase at 3.15pm but that is enough to make him only joint-favourite, for now, in a hot contest.
“I think Sandown will suit him better than Cheltenham,” said Paul Nicholls, trainer of Mr Mole, who, like Box Office, was rather a let-down at the Festival, trailing home last of eight finishers in the Champion Chase. “He seems in good form but it’s a job to know, with all these horses, whether they’ve held their form this late in the season. He’s got a bit of character about him like a lot of these good horses, but he’s got loads of talent as well.”
Press-room pessimists speculated on Friday night about the most anticlimactic scenario, in which Box Office would be withdrawn on account of the going and Mr Mole would refuse to start, an option he seemed to consider before consenting to go forward at Newbury in February. But even if McCoy suffers such a downbeat end to the glory days, he will not leave empty-handed, as the decision has been taken to retire the champion jockey’s trophy, which will be his to keep after he is presented with it for the 20th time on this season-ending card. The trophy in question was commissioned in 2007 and no one else has ever received it.
Sandown was a Flat-racing preserve on Friday but even the big names of the summer game were prepared to acknowledge their status as a build-up act for McCoy. Frankie Dettori, who enjoyed his first four-timer for years, said: “It will be very emotional, I would think. He’s the best we’ve ever seen. You know what, everybody’s slagging him for retiring but he’s stopping at his very top and you want to remember him like that. He’s achieved everything and he deserves all the accolades he can get.”
John Gosden, who trained two of Dettori’s winners, revealed an unexpected familiarity with jumps racing as he praised McCoy’s toughness. “You can call it dedication, you can call it driven, but the mental strength of him, let alone the physical resilience … I saw him take a fall one day, I was standing out at the last open ditch at Cheltenham, he crashed to the ground, the noise, everything. He got up, turned around, looked for his stick, picked it up and walked off. I call him titanium man because he is made of stuff that human beings are not made of. He’s a beyond amazing man and I hope over the next four months he’s all right. He can come ride a couple of bits of work for me, to keep him occupied.”
