The McManus and McCoy connection
The news that JP McManus has added to his racing interests will please many racing pundits as well as his retained jockey Tony McCoy. Last week McManus bought this year’s two best three year old hurdlers in France ? Sway and Temple Lord. He also purchased the only horse to beat the Grade One winner Rendons Grace. The three horses will for the time being stay with their trainers Guy Cherel and Marcel Rolland, but the time will no doubt come where McCoy will race one of them in the Grand National.
McCoy has raced for McManus since 2004, and even though they have not yet had a victory at the Grand National, he has admitted that there is no way that he would race for anyone else. Fans of McCoy find it gutting for him, McManus and themselves that McCoy hasn’t managed to pull off winning the great race, especially as he is such an accomplished jockey and he is so loyal to McManus. McCoy has raced the National 14 times, with 5 of them being raced on McManus’s horses. While this may sound like a bad record, it does not prove as poor as McManus’s who has had 23 losers in the past 8 years.
Looking at these records paints both McCoy and McManus in a very bad light ? they are both in fact extremely talented at what they do. Richard Dunwoody used to be the most successful jump jockey winning 1,699 races but McCoy quickly took that title having won over 3,000 National Hunt races. This in itself is hugely impressive, and will probably not be matched in our lifetimes. He is extremely dedicated and performs to a very high level of consistency ? he won the conditional riders title in 1995, and never looked back, he has an unbroken run as champion jockey which extends to 13 years. He also holds the record for the most winners in a British season ? in 2002 he won 289 races compared to the original record breaker’s (Sir Gordon Richard) total of 269.
JP McManus on the other hand is a big national hunt supporter and nearly always has more than one horse racing in the Grand National. He has his own stud farm, Martinstown Stud, near Kilmallock, County Limerick in the Republic of Ireland where he is from, and he owns excellent horses ? his most celebrated horse, Istabraq, won the Champion Hurdle three years in a row at the Cheltenham festival. McManus is not just celebrated for his huge support of horseracing or his profound wealth, he is respected so much because he loves taking the bookies to the cleaners and he undisputedly has a good heart. He regularly donates money to worthy causes, to such an extent that he has been presented with the Honorary Patronage of the University Philosophical Society of Trinity College Dublin in return for his charitable contributions.
Could this be the reasons whey McCoy holds such respect for McManus? Whatever the reason may be, McCoy has no intention of ever letting McManus down, having stated that he would much rather ride a 50-1 shot of his than the 6-4 favourite. McCoy knows what the Grand National means to McManus, so no-one will ever tempt him off one of his horses. Now that is a good combination, and hopefully one that will get to see McCoy ride and win one of McManus’s new purchases at some point in the not too distant future!
