Tony McCoy is to receive the lifetime achievement award at this year’s Sports Personality of the Year show on Sunday. The 20-times champion jump jockey, who retired in April, becomes the first horse racing professional to win the award, just as he was the first to win the main award in 2010.
A prolific breaker of records during his time in the saddle, McCoy rode more than 4,300 winners, most notably Don’t Push It in the Grand National of 2010 when he was making his 15th attempt on the race. He described the award as “a huge honour” and “a big highlight of what has been an incredible year”.
McCoy recently started work as an analyst for Channel 4 Racing during the winter jumps season. A film documentary about the end of his career, Being AP, was praised for the insight it offered into what motivates a sportsman at the peak of his game.
The Spoty awards are to be held for the first time in Belfast, a half-hour’s drive from McCoy’s birthplace in Moneyglass, County Antrim.
