Sir Anthony McCoy: rock-hard colossus who redefined what it meant to be driven

He's the serial truant who became a national treasure, although not in quite the same way as the Queen or Judi Dench. He's the five-foot shrimp who grew into a rock-hard colossus of the jumping game. He may or may not be the best jump jockey who ever lived, but there's no doubting Sir Anthony McCoy was the most remarkable.

In pursuit of his 20 consecutive titles and 4,300-plus winners, 'Wee Anthony' from Moneyglass, County Antrim became a bona fide legend. The numbers tell us he broke records deemed to be practically unassailable, and the stories tell us he did it with a dedication, a drive and a heedless attitude to pain and suffering that all bordered on the inhuman.

It sometimes seems as if he did every last bit of it on his own, sat atop some dark and brooding cloud, high above the heads of mere mortals; but between his first winner in 1992 and his last in 2015, he was surrounded by those who left their impression on his life, his method and his mood.