18th Consecutive Championship Win for A P McCoy

A P McCoy has indicated that his next target will be to reach 4,000 winners as he picked up his 18th consecutive championship as the National Hunt season came to a close at Sandown.
The 38-year-old still appeared delicate with his season ending prematurely after a fall at Cheltenham's penultimate meeting, which saw him hospitalised with broken ribs, and kept in for a couple of days.
Some of the highlights for the perennial champion this year were Festival wins for At Fishers Cross, who has cemented a growing partnership between McCoy, his boss JP McManus and trainer Rebecca Curtis, and the Tom Mullins-trained Alderwood. He also won the valuable Betfair Hurdle on My Tent Or Yours.McCoy, who has broken virtually every record in the sport he loves, said: "I'm very lucky to ride for a great owner and trainer in JP McManus and Jonjo O'Neill, who are two people I get on with well."My first target was to get out of hospital as quickly as possible and get back riding. I want to make 4,000 winners, I think I've got 125 to go, and then hopefully win another jockeys' championship. I got a very heavy fall, bruised my chest and was I very sore. I won't be back riding for at least two or three weeks."
A National Hunt trainers' title for Nicky Henderson, his first since 1987 and his third in all, was a fitting way to end a season which has seen untold stars emerge from the Seven Barrows yard in Lambourn.His team was led by the dominant Sprinter Sacre, who won at Cheltenham, Aintree and Punchestown, and included the likes of Arkle winner Simonsig, Gold Cup victor Bobs Worth, dual King George hero Long Run and youngsters like My Tent Or Yours and Captain Conan, who should ensure the Henderson dominance continues.
Henderson, who collected his trophy from Paralympic gold medallist David Weir, said: "There are two important teams who have made this happen. The team at home, and the owners. There have been ups and downs, but you can't forget the good days. The owners are friends, and hopefully they have had a lot of fun along the way."
The race to be champion conditional went right down to the wire between Lucy Alexander, Brendan Powell, Henry Brooke and Micheal Nolan, but Alexander became the first female to lift the prize. Her hopes looked to have been scuppered when she broke her collarbone in January, but she finished the season with a real flourish to take the prize.