EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW - AP MCCOY

The new whip rules are just farcical... and I won't hold back from saying it on TV

- Matt Majendie

RETIREMENT has not always come easily for AP McCoy. At his first few Cheltenham Festivals, he struggled with the idea of not being in the saddle for horses he once rode to famous victories.

As those horses have all made their way into their own retirement, life after racing has become easier to bear, to the extent that, were he still riding, he is not sure he would even take part at this week’s Festival.

McCoy is angry and embarrassed, his vitriol aimed at the British Horseracing Authority for its new whip rules, ones he worries will become the headline of this week’s racing.

“I feel so lucky that I’m not a jockey any more,” he said. “Maybe I live on a different planet now I’ve retired, I probably do, I’m just a chippy f****** ex-jockey.

“I have to be careful sounding like someone all jockeys should listen to, but why would you turn up? If none of them go, it’s not great is it?”