McManus signs up McCoy in Â£1m deal

14 April 2012

They said it would take heaven and earth to separate AP McCoy and Martin Pipe.

In the end it wasn't quite that much, but the lure of a rumoured £1million contract and the chance to join the most charismatic and wealthy of teams has finally persuaded the greatest jump jockey of all time to jump ship and join Jonjo O'Neill and JP McManus.

Word on the racing grapevine had suggested for months that McCoy had been offered the biggest deal ever set before a jump jockey in order to join a duo who are fiercely determined to deprive Pipe of his monopoly on the trainers' title.

News that he had finally accepted the offer was delivered to Pipe in a meeting after racing at Exeter last night, and McCoy is the first to admit that his decision marks the end of one of the most potent partnerships that jumping has ever seen.

"It's a great new challenge, but yesterday was one of the saddest days of my career," he said.

"Martin's family have been my family. He is a genius and I owe him everything that I have achieved in the last eight years."

Pipe has been well aware that O'Neill and McManus have coveted-McCoy's services and always hoped that his massive numerical firepower and his ability to provide the Ulsterman with a monopoly on the jockeys' title would be enough to keep him content.

"This hasn't come completely out of the blue and we are parting on good terms," he said.

"We've had some fantastic times together and AP will still ride for me tomorrow and over the weekend.

"We have not fallen out and I just don't know who will take over from him - it's too early to say."

McCoy's great rival Richard Johnson is almost certain to be offered the Pipe job, though his strong link with Pipe's West Country neighbour Philip Hobbs will not be broken easily.

Pipe has continued to send out a relentless stream of winners over the last couple of years yet has been less dominant than normal in the major races.

Meanwh i le, O'Neill and McManus have put together the most lavish training base in jumping history at Jackdaws Castle near Cheltenham, with Rhinestone-Cowboy and Iris's Gift at the head of a 100-horse team which boasts tremendous strength in depth.

O'Neill and McManus have been keeping their own counsel at the Punchestown Festival this week but clearly see McCoy as the final element in a plan designed to ensure that nothing is left to chance when it comes to the top races.

However, O'Neill has always recognised McCoy's brilliance and described him last year as "the best there has ever been or ever will be". McCoy, who will be 30 next Tuesday, is looking forward to bidding for his 10th consecutive championship and may well reflect on a comment he made in his autobiography three years ago.

He said: "Let's get one thing straight - a jockey's first loyalty is to himself."

That self-centred mentality is part of what has made him so dominant over the last decade.

It's also a mentality which will make the newly forged O'Neill and McCoy combination the one that Pipe will have to worry about most of all from now on.

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