McCoy magic thrills us all

Lee Mottershead on a perfect day for the sport  as the champion fulfils a burning ambition

ABSOLUTELY marvellous. Rarely has racing been blessed with a better day than this. No matter how many Aintrees, Cheltenhams or Epsoms we experience, no matter where in the world the sport grabs our attention, no matter who, no matter where, no matter when. Thanks to Tony McCoy, to whom racing owes so much, we now know that as good as it gets is so very good indeed.

His greatness is well and rightly documented. Yet until now, despite more than 3,000 winners, 14 jockeys' championships and countless major victories, he had been unable to burst from within the bubble that confined him to our lives and not the ones lived by everyone else. Only by winning the Grand National, the one and only race that really matters, was the magnificence of McCoy ever going to be appreciated by the wider world. Now, at the 15th time of asking, it has happened and, glad to report, it feels every bit as thrilling as we hoped it would.

On passing the post, he was likea changed man. Almost immediately, there were tears and no attempt to hide them. "I'm being a bit of wuss, but it means everything to win the Grand National," he said, his words, his emotions, his display of sheer euphoria showing just how muchit did mean. It meant more than anything he had ever achieved.

And yet, he evidently thought there was little chance of it happening. For weeks, we had asked, as we always ask, which horse McCoy would ride in the National.

There was the strongly fancied Arbor Supreme, the former second King Johns Castle, Can't Buy Time and Don't Push It. At one stage, rumour had it that Arbor Supreme was favoured, only for McCoy to silence the whispers by claiming Can't Buy Time was his likely mount, although all the talk was irrelevant.

"None of them have a chance," he told one reporter earlier in the week. But one of them had to be his, and once the decision was made, McCoy, as is his wont, convincedhimself that he could win. In the minutes leading up to the race, it seems everyone else became convinced as well.

You only had to watch the betting to see what punters think of McCoy. Don't Push It should have been a 40-1 chance, yethe opened on course at 20-1 and, in an unstoppable, frenetic, scarcely believable chain of events, ended up 10-1 joint-favourite.

McCoy made it happen, not because of anything he said, but because of what his legion of fans know he can do. On a horse he described as "mentally unstable", he did it, giving Don't Push It the perfect National ride, so perfect that he could afford himself a long glance towards runner-up Black Apalachi after the last, at which McCoy fearlessly fired his willing mount.

It was then that triumph was assured, but not until the post was passed would Jonjo O'Neill or JP McManus have begun celebrating. For them, as for McCoy, the Grand National has been along and painful experience, and it is to them, as much as to McCoy, that credit is due. Such is AP's domination of the sport that it is he who will hog the headlines, but he could not have done it without them.

Both JP and Jonjo have, in cancer, fought a tougher foe than a handicap chase at Aintree. Now they have done the double. O'Neill, as decent a man as you could find, has finally conquered a race that had battered him as trainer and jockey. McManus, although bolstered by many millions in the bank, is, when it comes to horses, endearingly soft, supporting a vast  string, many of whom are blessed with just a modicum of talent. It doesn't seem to bother him. The bills are always paid.

But it is McCoy who made this the day that it was. His joy was our joy. To a man, from his comrades in the weighing room to his followers in the grandstands, betting shops and living rooms, his crowning moment will have been received with delight. This was a groundswell ofgood feeling the like of which we have not previously savoured.

Now, at long last, let him be handed the recognition he deserves. Give him his due, give him the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award, heck, give him the keys to Downing Street if he wants them. Tony McCoy has won the Grand National. What a joy that is to write.