A.P.McCOY (3)

The jump jockey A.P.McCoy rode his 4,000th winner this week, a record which is unlikely to be beaten. The 18-time champion's nearest competitor Richard Johnson is way back on 2,567, so there is quite a margin.

I have to admit to feeling rather sorry for Johnson. In most sports, he would be a champion in his own right, but he has finished runner-up to McCoy in the jockeys' championship no less than 15 times. That must be hard to deal with.

Walter Blotscher