Sandown full house for Box Office McCoy's last race

Tony McCoy brings the curtain down on his record-breaking career on the aptly-named Box Office in front of a forecast full house at Sandown on Saturday.

The racecourse say a maximum crowd of 18,000 will turn up to witness the legendary 40-year-old Northern Irish jockey's last day in the saddle.

"It’s looking increasingly likely to be a sell-out, that is the message,” Sandown's clerk of the course Andrew Cooper said.

"We're down to hundreds of grandstand tickets left and that’s it. To be sure of getting in, they need to buy their tickets now."

Only twice in Sandown's recent history has that attendance been matched -- for Motivator's Eclipse win in 2005 and Desert Orchid's Whitbread success in 1988, Cooper said.

McCoy rides into retirement on the Jonjo O'Neill-trained runner in the last race on the card. During the afternoon he will be presented with his 20th consecutive jockey's title.

Before Box Office bids to give him the perfect send-off he partners Mr Mole in the only Grade 1 event on the card, renamed in his honour the AP McCoy Celebration Chase.

Both horses run in the colours of McCoy's retaining owner for the past ten years JP McManus.

It was after his win on Mr Mole at Newbury in February that McCoy announced his intention to finish his career which began in Ireland 23 years ago at Sandown.

Spice has been added to the Celebration Chase with the presence of Sprinter Sacre, Nicky Henderson's brilliant chaser who turns out after pulling up at the Cheltenham Festival having previously suffered heart problems.

"It’s going to be an enormous day all round and the great thing about AP in this instance is that he's taking the pressure off us and Sprinter for a change," Henderson told the Guardian.

McCoy retires as the most successful jump jockey of all time, and with wins in all the major races, including two Cheltenham Gold Cups, a King George VI Chase, a Grand National, and three Champion Hurdles.
Source: AFP