www.racingpost.com/news/live.sd?event_id=1760624&category=0
HE phenomenal Tony McCoy reached a huge personal milestone in his incredible career when victory on It's A Gimme at Market Rasen on Saturday meant he surpassed the 4,191 winners of his friend and mentor Martin Pipe.
McCoy, 40, had earmarked the 15-time champion trainer's record as his next goal after riding his 4,000th winner at Towcester in November and such is the form he has started this season in, the 19-time champion jockey has already got there.
McCoy, who drew level with Pipe at Uttoxeter on Wednesday, was riding the Jonjo O'Neill-trained It's A Gimme for his boss JP McManus in the Betfred Summer Plate, Market Rasen's feature on the biggest day of its season.
Martin Pipe - Trainer
Martin Pipe: will get a call
from McCoy on Saturday night
PICTURE: PA
A Pricewise pick in Saturday's Racing Post, It's A Gimme was given a fine ride by McCoy to win from Lost Legend.
The 2-1 winner was treated for exhaustion, but was reported to be all right.
"It was just a personal thing to ride more winners than Martin trained," said McCoy, who was presented with 20kg of cheese from the racecourse.
"He was a man who transformed the way racehorses were trained and his achievements should never be underestimated.
"We've had a bit of banter ever since I rode my 4,000th winner and now I can say that I've ridden more than he trained.
"I'd now like to ride my fastest-ever 100 [in a season] but that's not going to be easy because there isn't too much racing in July and August and I'll be at Galway for a few days."
McCoy, who completed a double on Market Rasen's card on Parlour Games to take his tally to 4,193, added: "My main target this season is to be champion jockey again, which is of course never a certainty. After that who knows. If I can still be competitive maybe, 4,500 winners, we'll see."
Pipe, whose record was made up of 3,930 British jumps races, five more in Ireland and three in France plus 253 on the Flat in Britain, said: "It's really incredible. It's been a challenge we've had between us for some time. He's been texting me every day and we've had lots of banter.
"To ride so many winners and keep going - and he's better than ever. It's been a privilege to work with him. He's an incredible human being and is great for our sport.
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McCoy on his milestone
"We had some great times together, and are still having lots of fun now. He goes out to win in every race, encourages the horse and they respond to him. He's an iron man.
Pipe added on At The Races: "5,000 winners could be his next target. He's still riding winners and enjoying it, so who knows."
The former trainer and McCoy joined forces successfully on more than 1,550 occasions, including winning the Champion Hurdle in 1997 with Make A Stand.
Pipe retired from training in 2006, two years after McCoy was appointed retained rider to leading owner McManus.
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