The week the flashbulbs popped for a legend in the making

It is hard to know where Sir Anthony McCoy's Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle double of 1997 deserves to be filed in the vast catalogue of mighty things the man did in his 25 years in the sport.

It can hardly be described as his big breakthrough, given that he had won his first jockeys' championship the year before; it certainly wasn't the last memorable feat he shared with us, and given the events of the ensuing 18 years it was far from the most astonishing; riding two winners in a week, after all, is a far cry from riding 4,000 in a career.

Where McCoy soon became familiar with territory into which no jockey had ventured before, this was ground that had been trodden by Norman Williamson a mere two seasons earlier, and neither of the animals concerned this time helped the matter by going on to forge stellar careers based on these solid foundations.