'To this day it haunts me' - McCoy opens up in The Big Read in RP Sunday

Sir Anthony McCoy's obsession with success was as strong at the end of his career as it was at the start, with the 20-time champion jockey admitting the injury that denied him the opportunity to ride 300 winners in his final season broke his heart.

McCoy called time on his phenomenal career in 2015 and, although there is very little he regrets, it is still a sticking point that circumstances conspired to deprive him of the swansong he so dearly wanted.

Mostly his career was about relentless achievement over an extended period, but 300 winners in a season was the one final goal McCoy had promised himself, only to have it snatched away when the path seemed clear.

Speaking to the Racing Post for The Big Read in this week's RP Sunday, he said: "It’s funny, I rode my fastest 50 winners in the last season I was riding and I rode my fastest 100 winners the same year.

“It was the first time in my life that I thought to myself I was getting better and it made me wonder what I'd been doing for the rest of my career."

But it was not to be. McCoy fell from the Rebecca Curtis-trained Keep Presenting when he jinked at the first hurdle in the Injured Jockeys Fund 50th Anniversary Maiden Hurdle at Worcester on October 9, 2014, with the rider taking a kicking for good measure. He was still on the ground 15 minutes later.

McCoy returned from the rib injury quickly but was forced to take further fortnight out after aggravating the injury. He added: "I'd nearly ridden 150 winners when I got injured at Worcester and to this day it haunts me. I genuinely thought I might reach the 300 in my last campaign and that injury broke my heart."

Read Sir Anthony McCoy's interview with Peter Thomas in The Big Read in Sunday's Racing Post - available to racingpost.com members at 6pm on Saturday