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" I get butterflies before going out to ride every day, but they disappear as soon as I am on a horse, and I think that is the same for most jockeys. Then it is just down to you and the horse, and there is a certain freedom in that. "

Tony McCoy

Think

I Am

Horse

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" You only worry about your head or spinal column. Everything else, some way or another, will repair in time. "

" I've been on some very good horses which have died, and that's very tough to take. But as much as we love the horses, and care for them, human life is obviously more important. Some good friends of mine have died or been paralysed while doing a job we all love. "

" I know from sitting around with injuries how difficult life will be without racing and riding winners. "

" During every race, an ambulance trails the riders around the course. You know that sometimes you are going to end up in the back of that ambulance. "

" I was determined my 4,000th winner would be in the green and gold colours of J. P. McManus and trained by Jonjo O'Neill, who have been my greatest supporters. "

" Many of us in the jockeys' room are wasting to ride many pounds below our natural weight, but all the while you are doing that, you also want to ensure that you are as strong as possible so that you can give your mount every possible chance in a race. "

" You need fear and doubt to drive you on. Without it, you end up living in the past and being happy with what you have achieved. "

" In my opinion, the power of the mind in sport is vital. If you can overpower those physical risks mentally, you can get your body round it physically. I've made my body do things because of my mind that it shouldn't have been able to do. "

" If you break your sternum or your ribs, you can still move. It's going to hurt, but if you can cope with it, you'll do it. "

" Even though people involved in racing think that it has a big sporting stage, it is a minority sport compared to some of the other high-profile events: football, Formula One or golf. "

" If you've got a regular feed of winners, you control your mind to do it. It becomes a must. If you didn't have that regular flow of winning, whether you could get yourself to do that, I don't know. It's a lot easier when you know the next day you can win and you can win and win, it's worth doing it. "

" If you ask most trainers who have ridden which pressure is greater - watching your horse or riding it - they will tell you it is harder watching it because you have no control over what happens. "

" There are many tough sides to being a jockey. Injury is something we all dread, but spending lengthy periods in the bath or the sauna just to shed a few pounds can be an exhausting and draining experience. "

" I suppose I'm happy when I know I've given a horse a good ride, no matter where it is. I like playing golf in the summer; I'm happy when I hit a good shot, and I enjoy watching Arsenal playing beautiful football, but overall I can't believe you can be happy when you're not winning. I honestly can't accept that. "

" You always get a buzz from winning. Winning is... everything. "

" I could never have ridden 4,000 winners without loving my job, and If I ever get to the point where I'm not loving it, I'll stop. "

" When I started off riding, you dream about being champion jockey. Then I wanted to be champion jockey again. Then I wanted to ride 200 winners in a season. Then, when there was a chance of riding more winners than Richard Dunwoody, that was my goal. "

" My first winner was on Legal Steps, in Ireland, at Thurles, in March 1992. I rode for Jim Bolger, and his stable jockey was Christy Roche. "

" Private dreams are the most powerful. You have to dream of success to make it happen, and if you don't believe in yourself, nobody else will. But that doesn't mean you have to go around telling everyone about it. "

" I feel pressure every day. It is only pressure that I put on myself, but I would expect all professional sportspeople to feel pressure to perform their best whenever they are at work. "

" I'm very lucky that I love what I do. I've never thought of it as work. I've never done it for the money. "

" I don't know which is stronger: the thrill of winning or the fear of failure. I don't know which one affects me most. I don't know where the middle is. "

Tony McCoy

Know

Middle

" I am quite hard to live with, and I know that if I go through a bad run, I'm not the best company and am best left alone. But I'm not nearly as bad as people like to make out. "

" A helmet is the most important part of any jockey's kit because of the number of falls you take, so I wouldn't want to be wearing anything on the track unless it had been thoroughly tested. "

" I probably don't look healthy, but I have never got to the stage where I thought I was going to pass out. "

" Really racing is about the horses, not me. You can't do it without the horses, and they are the big players as are the lads who look after them, and they rarely get a mention. "

Tony McCoy

Racing

Look

" There is no place for arrogance or complacency in racing because you are up there one minute and on your backside the next. "

" I like challenging myself. I'm not a person who likes not to work. "

Tony McCoy

Likes

Who

" I think I've always used the whip in the correct way. I see marked horses every day, and it's not a pretty sight, but I've never marked a horse. Never. "

" I have found the right way to deal with my diet, largely through trial and error, but also by having good people around me all the time, and they have given me the right advice for my body. "

Tony McCoy

Good People

People