‘The torture fed me, it kept me going’: AP McCoy on how he reached the top as a jockey – and his friendship with JP McManus

He said his success as a jockey was down to secretly loving the “torture” that came with pushing himself.

“I hate to say it, but the torture fed me. The torture kept me going,” he told the Sunday Independent.

A decade after retiring from the sport, the 50-year-old said he still struggled to understand where his obsession to win came from.

“I think it just grows in you. I always had this thing in life about looking at the people who are better than everyone else at what they do,” he said.

“When I wanted to be a jockey — Richard Dunwoody was a champion — and I used to look at him and think, ‘Why is he better than everyone else? What does he do that sets him apart?’ and try to do that.

“But to be any good at anything in life you have to enjoy it. Even if you are a businessman — and you are worth all the money in the world — you have to love it.”

I wouldn’t say I was never happy, but I was never content for 20 years. I always wanted more

McCoy said getting to…

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Independent.ie