Champion Jockey Wins Major Award
For the first time in horse racing history, a jockey was named the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Tony McCoy, a veteran champion jockey whose riding career rivals that of the legendary Lester Piggott, was chosen to receive this award by members of the public after receiving more than 41% of the votes in a telephone poll. The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award was the brainchild of Paul Fox who was then the "Sportsview" magazine editor. Since 1954, every year the award is given to sportsperson "whose actions have most captured the public's imagination."
Hailing from Northern Ireland, Anthony Peter McCoy (commonly known as Tony McCoy) is currently considered by many as the greatest jump jockey. He recorded his first horse race win riding "Legal Steps" on 26th March 1992 when he was only 17 years of age and since 1995/96 had been named the "British jump racing Champion Jockey" every year. His achievements in horse racing include Champion Hurdle, the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the King George VI Chase, the Queen Mother Champion Chase and the 2010 Grand National. His win at the 2010 Grand National on "Don't Push It" was his 15th attempt at winning this prestigious race and was most probably the deciding achievement which led to him being voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year for 2010.
The Grand National is regarded as the world's greatest steeplechase and is held annually in early April on a Saturday afternoon at Aintree in the UK. This horse race is so famous and popular in the UK that people who normally aren't partial to betting on horse racing place bets on their favourite horse or jockey to win. The event is also broadcast live and is said to command a worldwide audience of 600 million viewers.
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