McCoy and Johnson: An ongoing battle?

The identity of the G.O.A.T, the greatest of all time for those who aren’t familiar, is a never ending social media football topic about Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, one which will never be settled in favour of either.

In contrast, National Hunt racing has never had the same problem when it comes to jockeys, with Sir Anthony McCoy – commonly known as AP or Tony - generally accepted as the finest rider the sport has ever produced.

McCoy decided to call it a day at the top of the game in April 2015, departing with 20 consecutive titles and a scarcely believable tally of 4,204 career winners over jumps.

Where there is a Messi, though, there is ultimately a Ronaldo, and McCoy was continually pushed by Richard Johnson, who was runner-up in the Jockeys’ Championship an eye-watering 16 times. Indeed, Johnson may have had the mantle of the greatest himself – at the expense of the likes of John Francome, Peter Scudamore and Richard Dunwoody - if it wasn’t for the exploits of McCoy.

Their intense but amicable 20-year rivalry was fondly revisited by the pair in a TalkSPORT feature which aired last weekend and was filled with nostalgia.

Our new series Re:United is here 💥

Legendary sporting rivals come back together to tell their story. @AP_McCoy and @DickyJohnson77 are up first at 8pm tonight 🙌 pic.twitter.com/afXaltbtSy

— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) August 12, 2018

It’s hard to get away from the domination McCoy enjoyed in the sport, and Johnson spoke about his early impressions of his rival. He said: “The season used to end at Stratford in May, and I remember that was one of the first days I met him. From then on he was a phenomenon, and I chased him in vain most of the time.”

When McCoy retired, the throne was left empty for Johnson and he has since won three consecutive titles - the phrase 'make hay while the sun shines' feels very apt.

And Johnson, who has ridden 49 winners already this season, is showing no signs of stopping. Whilst he faces big challenges from Harry Skelton (75 winners) and Brian Hughes (41) in his title defence, Johnson’s own number of career winners is steadily creeping up. At 3,453 winners at the time of writing, he’s now just 751 behind McCoy’s total, a figure that initially appeared untouchable upon the latter’s retirement.

He couldn’t, could he?

Johnson has been gaining at a rate of knots, in part because his number of rides has increased. During AP's reign, Johnson’s highest tally of mounts in a season was 911, and generally stood around the 800 mark, a number which has subsequently jumped to four figures in two of the last three seasons.

This has helped Johnson rack up more winners in a season than he has ever managed before, the pinnacle being a McCoy-esque total of 235 in 2015-16, a figure only bettered by his rival a handful of times. With McCoy out of the way, one might assume that Johnson has picked up better rides, courtesy of being the new number one client of super-agent Dave Roberts.

However, while McCoy was the go-to man for the big occasion, that hasn’t really been the case with Johnson, who didn’t even pick up a ride in the Stayers’ Hurdle at the most recent Cheltenham Festival despite the likes of Sam Spinner looking tailor-made for Johnson’s forcing riding style.

Johnson’s net-gain of rides in recent seasons has come in the nitty-gritty of day-to-day meetings, which helps explain the fact that the overall quality of his rides has marginally decreased.

The average Timeform master rating of Johnson’s rides during the McCoy era stood at 114.8, but that has dropped slightly to 113.8.

While the quality hasn’t improved, if Johnson continues on his current trajectory he could overhaul McCoy’s total in less than five seasons. Johnson has averaged 915 rides in the last three seasons, and a strike-rate of 18.5%, which would produce around 170 winners per season.

This is National Hunt racing, however, the most gruelling of sporting endeavours, in which a jockey can expect to suffer as many as 50 falls a season.

It would take superhuman levels of fitness and drive for the 41-year-old to extend a career which has already spanned 25 years, but Johnson – who is as unassuming and low-key as his brief Wikipedia page – has both in spades.

Perhaps more pivotal to when Johnson decides to call it a day, though, could be the Grand National. He has ridden in the race 20 times and holds the record for most rides without a winner, and while McCoy’s retirement came after passing 4,000 winners, his most important landmark was arguably his first Grand National win courtesy of Don’t Push It (2010).

Whatever the outcome, whether Johnson passes McCoy’s total or not, it’s clear that these two very different jockeys share several attributes. Hard work, bravery and a will to win – as well as immense talent – set both men apart when it comes to modern-day National Hunt racing.

Johnson was the only man able to push McCoy to his limit when both were riding, and he hasn’t stopped just yet.