Date of birth: 4 May 1974 Place of birth: Co Antrim 2002-03 wins: 256 2001-2002 wins: 289 2000-2001 wins: 191 1999-2000 wins: 245

Known popularly by his initials AP (Anthony Peter), McCoy is quite simply a superlative sportsman and a great ambassador for National Hunt racing.

The Northern Irish jockey has broken nearly all of the records in the book during his career.

The 2001-02 season was a particularly memorable one as among the records he beat was the number of winners in a season, the 269 set by Sir Gordon Richards in 1947.

And even more special for McCoy, he broke through Richard Dunwoody's milestone of 1,699 winners over jumps.

Being the stable jockey for Martin Pipe is virtually synomous with being champion jockey and McCoy picked up his ninth title in the 2003-04 season.

His biggest wins came when he secured the Champion Hurdle-Gold Cup double on Make A Stand and Mr Mulligan in 1997.

He won three races in total that year, and five at the following Festival, finishing as leading jockey on both occasions.

But Cheltenham has not always been a happy hunting ground for McCoy - he has had only one winner there in each of the past two seasons.

And Pipe and McCoy endured heartache when promising chaser Gloria Victis was killed in the Champion Hurdle in 2002.

But despite all the records, there are still peaks that even McCoy has not yet conquered - most notably the Grand National.

His relatively large build gives him strength but also means he has to show extreme self-discipline to keep his weight down.

Out of the saddle McCoy is incredibly modest and always has time for a good cause and his many fans.

McCoy's single-mindedness in pursuit of winners borders on the obsessive - but without the backing of Pipe, breaking more records will prove the toughest challenge yet.