McCoy kept waiting for 4000th winner

Tony McCoy will have to wait at least another day to become the first jockey to ride 4,000 winners over hurdles and fences in Britain and Ireland. The record 18-time champion jockey of the United Kingdom moved on to the 3,998 mark at Kempton, south-west of London, on Monday but failed to win any of his three races at Exeter, south-west England, on Tuesday. McCoy, 39, was second on Flemenson in his first ride before finishing seventh on Keen Eye. And his third mount, Well Hello There, could only finish in fifth place. Attention will now turn to the Welsh border town of Chepstow where the Northern Irishman has two booked rides on Wednesday. When Stan Mellor became the first jump jockey to ride 1,000 winners in 1971, his feat was considered astounding. Yet Mellor's record was subsequently broken by John Francome (1,138 wins), Peter Scudamore (1,678) and Richard Dunwoody (1,699). But none has a record to compare to that of McCoy. Although there are jockeys in major racing nations with more winners to their name, they tend to be flat-race specialists, whose careers are generally longer and who are at far less risk of injuring themselves through heavy falls than those who ride over fences, as McCoy does. Source: AFP