McCoy Not Sure When He Will Call It A Day

Tony McCoy admits he does not know exactly when he will call it a day this season.

The 19-times champion jump jockey announced at Newbury on Saturday that he will retire this season, but he still plans to ride at the Cheltenham Festival and in the Grand National.

He said: "I honestly don't know when I'll stop. I decided this would be my last season and Dave Roberts (his agent) said I should announce it beforehand. Other things were discussed like going out on a winner but I honestly don't know.

"I'll ride at Cheltenham and Aintree but after that I don't know whether it will be the last day of the season or go out on a winner, we'll get the big meetings out of the way first."

Barring injury, McCoy will be crowned champion jockey for an unbelievable 20th successive year after riding his 200th winner of the season on Mr Mole at Newbury shortly before he announced his retirement.

He told Sky Sports News HQ: "I was asked yesterday by the press when I first decided. I jokingly said five years ago, but in some ways five years ago I thought if I could win 20 jockeys’ championships then that would be a good achievement.

"I always wanted to try and retire while I was champion jockey, I always wanted to retire while I was at a good level, I always wanted to retire having people asking me 'why, not when' - so that’s partly the reason why.

"It’s something I love doing, it's something I’m going to miss, but I think it's important I retire whilst I'm lucky enough to be champion jockey.

"It's something that I've dreaded the day for a long, long time, but I'll just have to get over it at some point hopefully.

"I've been very lucky. I've lived my life doing something that I really love doing. I often say to people that I haven't done a day’s work in my life. I've lived my life having the most enjoyable way of life, the most enjoyable career, so the dread is I'm not going to be able to do it anymore.

"I get a buzz from what I do. I get a bit of an adrenalin rush every morning when I get up. Every day when I go racing there's something different. I go somewhere different every day so there are a lot of reasons I'm going to miss it.

"But I think if you want to be successful at something in life you have to really enjoy it and I've really enjoyed my life, that's for sure."