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I bought the DVD of the recently released film. I couldn’t find a detailed review anywhere, so I wrote this for my blog:
The film’s producers have done a wonderful job in getting The Sun to declare Being AP ‘Enthralling’ and ‘Gripping’: it’s neither.
The ninety-nine-minute movie covers a year in the life of Anthony Peter McCoy as he pursues his 20th consecutive NH Jockeys’ Championship title. AP’s wife, Chanelle, engineers a potentially wonderful, unexpected twist halfway through when finally persuading her husband to retire at the end of the season. Unfortunately, director, Anthony Wonke could do little with this gift, and perhaps nobody could have.
Getting the most successful NH jockey in history to agree to have the cameras follow him for a year must have seemed a wonderful coup for the film’s backers. But in concentrating so heavily on the dedication that has brought such success, the makers manage to kill the drama, for what AP’s life boils down to is this: get up early, get in a car, go to the races. ride horses, come home, watch racing, go to bed, get up early, get in a car…
There is more. There has to be more. He’s a quick-witted man, a kind man, who visits sick children in hospital, who attends parties, who has a caring mother and father and siblings, a strong and dedicated wife, and two young children. The way he has lived his life has affected countless people, yet we hear from so few of them.
Dave Roberts, his agent appears a few times and we watch him at dinner with AP and Chanelle. Dave is there on the last day to walk in with AP before the great man dismounts for the final time. But we don’t get to hear in any detail what Roberts thinks of him. AP’s parents feature only fleetingly. We learn nothing about his early life. There are numerous ‘voices off’, which are never identified.
We see AP being examined by doctors. He talks then of his injuries. The doctors offer no insights. A masseuse/physio attends him at home and the major question of interest from her is ‘have you been colouring your hair?’.
The theme of the film is set from the start, and dominates throughout. AP believes he can ride 300 winners in the season. Cameras follow him from track to track, and a graphic shows his progress. Then a big injury punctures not only his lung, but his chances of making the 300. A busted collarbone hangs creakily over the damaged lung (neither stopped him riding that day, something of an embarrassment for the BHA’s medical procedures, I’d have thought). It’s a devastating blow for him. He says so in different ways.
At one point, he touches his collarbone and says, (I paraphrase) “I feel like bashing this off the wall again and again to punish it for stopping me riding three-hundred winners. It’s this that’s weak, not me!”
Now, I thought, surely they will wheel on a psychologist or two. AP has effectively been talking, with serious intent, about self-harming. He might not have seen it that way, nor might others, but those who self harm often do so in an effort to punish what is they see as their torturer, to rid themselves of it.
At another point AP says, “Twenty titles and four-thousand winners will take some beating. Nobody will do it for a while. I’ll probably be dead by then and at least I won’t have to worry about it.”
Why were these moments allowed to pass unquestioned? What is it that drives a human being to such excess? Fear. Fear. We heard that mentioned a few times. Fear of no longer being champ. Fear of a record being attainable by someone other than McCoy.
What sparked this fear? How was it fed, and who did the feeding. And why? Was it a fear he would have liked to be rid of? If not, why not?
This was a wonderful opportunity to analyse a man with a rare terror, a terror that fuelled an ambition that overcame fierce pain again and again and again (aside from the overhot baths, the decades of starvation, the family arguments).
That opportunity was allowed to canter past like so many of the slowmo shots in this film. And it suffered in this department too. Perhaps permission to use some Channel 4 footage or even their camera positions was never sought. Maybe it was refused. But the remoteness of the racetrack coverage, even in the changing room, added to the overall impression that the film was being made, if not surreptitiously, then with a level of objectivity bordering on disinterest.
And I found the background music intrusive much of the time, and inappropriate. But that’s a minor flaw in a major portrait that never quite comes into proper focus.
Whether anyone else could have made a better job of it, who knows. There might have been restrictions on the producers that have not been made public.
So, racing fans will enjoy it at some level, but I suspect the overall feeling will be one of disappointment. Gripping it ain’t. Nor is it enthralling. In a way, it was sad. Not sentimental weepy movie sad, it just left me feeling sorry for AP. Many will reserve their sympathy for those around him and his admitted selfishness, but I felt for him in the way I would for a lost child, one who will never find his way home.
The review is of the BLuRay DVD which is on sale on Amazon for £12.99
I haven’t seen it yet. Perhaps they should have used the documentary maker that made Dark Horse which stood up as a great documentary on every level.
That’s a great pity Joe, I hadn’t seen it, but I hoped it would have been more than a
straight sporting account of the day to day schedule of a jockey, they had so much
more material to work with than that.I find McCoy a fascinating intriguing character that I didn’t ever really understand,
and if I’m honest, I could never take to him. I’ve mentioned on here before, recently
in the Barry Geraghty thread, and elsewhere, that I thought McCoy was the most determined
driven sportsman, not just jockey, that I’ve ever seen, but was honest enough to admit
that he didn’t make my top two jockeys (present jockeys) and further down the line if
including those that have hung up their boots. I also commented that I thought he could
be over hard on horses, even although I admit I wouldn’t want anyone else riding a
finish if my hard earned happened to be on it. It was always win at all costs, or it
seemed that way to me. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that what McCoy did was astounding,
and I seriously doubt if anyone, at any time, will ever reach the milestones that he has
reached.I don’t think you could do what McCoy did, unless there was something very different about
you, not just excellent jockeyship. I really would have wanted to know what makes McCoy tick,
and more importantly, why did he become like that.It sounds like they have brought up more questions than answers. I really think they have
missed a trick here.Thanks for the great write up Joe, I really enjoyed that
I seem to remember a footballer’s much-mocked biography starting with something like:
“Monday morning. Breakfast. All the tea and buttered toast you can eat.”
Unfortunately, this sounds like a similar level of expose.
Mike
What a teaser! So we are going to have to buy the DVD to find out if he has his hair coloured?
I am not really surprised the film doesn’t provide much insight. If the idea was to dig that much deeper I doubt the project would have got off the ground.
Racing worries about opening itself up to a wider audience and consequently it will forever exist in its own little bubble.
A day in the life, a year in the life, a life: for we in this cosseted country at least, comprises repetitive mundane routine punctuated by the occasional high day and holiday. You, me, whoever
For the intensely driven tunnel-visioned such as McCoy I’d surmise that their daily routine is especially repetitive and mundane. You don’t rise to the top of a profession by bothering to be distracted by matters outwith it
Hence this is, I suspect, just the latest biography of a top sportsman which is deeply boring as there’s next to nothing to add to the splendid achievements we the public are already aware of
Biographies in general have never interested me. I may be fascinated and impressed by what someone has achieved but with very few exceptions am not interested in the person themselves
even the President of the United States sometimes must have to stand naked
Thursday morning. Breakfast. A pint of Assam, white no sugar and two slices of marmite on toast, wholemeal
There was a tv documentary years ago which featured several jump jockeys..one of them being Luke Harvey. Now that one was interesting and good fun.
Really honest review.
I wouldn’t be rushing out to purchase it though as never been a fan of AP.Was the film made in aid of the Injured Jockey’s Fund or any other Charity that he supports?
Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...For the intensely driven tunnel-visioned such as McCoy I’d surmise that their daily routine is especially repetitive and mundane. You don’t rise to the top of a profession by bothering to be distracted by matters outwith it.
Indeed. In fact, it may be the next twenty years in AP’s life that prove to be the most ‘interesting’ from a biographer’s point of view.
Mike
For the intensely driven tunnel-visioned such as McCoy I’d surmise that their daily routine is especially repetitive and mundane. You don’t rise to the top of a profession by bothering to be distracted by matters outwith it.
Indeed. In fact, it may be the next twenty years in AP’s life that prove to be the most ‘interesting’ from a biographer’s point of view.
Mike
That’s a very good point Mike. How he copes with not being locked into his
ruthless routine, is going to be very different for him. There are many cases
of sportsmen who go off the rails once out of limelight and the cut and thrust
of competing. I wish him well, and I don’t see him turning into a Gazza, but it
will be interesting to see how he copes with a very new lifestyle.As a confirmed life-long abstainer from Alcohol, McCoy is highly unlikely to suddenly turn in to a Gascoigne type character. Fortunately for him, he doesn’t have that particular devil in him. And alcohol generally leads to other substance abuse, so he’ll be safe enough I would think.
I think he’ll end up assistant trainer to David Pipe within 12 months – pure guess.
BUY THE SUN
TTC, he does not come across to me as a person who’d take the title ‘assistant’ in any role. I doubt he’d accept an offer from God: and even vice-president of Heaven wouldn’t cut it. McCoy wants to stand clear and far above anyone at anything.
In 2008, when he had the serious back injury and was trying out ‘Kriotherapy’ (an ultra-cold sealed chamber), his first question to the operator when entering was ‘Who holds the record for staying in both coldest and longest?’ It was some premier league footballer. McCoy left there having set a new record of 3 minutes at minus 149c. (This isn’t in the film: I recall reading about it).
And I doubt he’ll ever train horses. He needs something, I think, that he can physically be involved in as far as records go. Just getting the feed and exercise programmes right etc. etc. wouldn’t satisfy him.
I suspect he is using his famous willpower to get himself through this post-riding period. He says toward the end of the film that he has lived the dream, but unfortunately he has now had to wake up and begin real life.
He has said elsewhere that he will never come back. But having watched the film, if the ‘impossible’ happened in the next couple of years and someone rode 300 winners in a season, I think he’d find it a daily torture so savage that it could prompt a comeback.
I do hope the poor fella finds some peace. I’ve no doubt whatever that he’s a kind and generous man, who was saddled with the terrible affliction that is fear of failure x 1000.
When he started as a jockey he had no problems having Jim ‘You are some Fool!’ Bolger ordering him about. I would think its quite possible a single minded fella such as McCoy would understand he had to learn before trying to become the best. Only a hunch about the training mind!
As for you describing his as a “poor fella” “trying to find peace” I don’t get this at all. Financially comfortable, healthy, legendary sportsman, happy home life with a healthy family. Yep life’s a struggle for AP right enough!
BUY THE SUN
He might have all the trappings, but what good are they when you are so afraid of failure you’ll ride half a ton of hyped animal over big black fences when your lung is punctured and your collarbone broken?
If that’s happiness, you can keep it.
As a confirmed life-long abstainer from Alcohol, McCoy is highly unlikely to suddenly turn in to a Gascoigne type character. Fortunately for him, he doesn’t have that particular devil in him. And alcohol generally leads to other substance abuse, so he’ll be safe enough I would think.
I think he’ll end up assistant trainer to David Pipe within 12 months – pure guess.
TTC, I’m aware McCoy is a life long abstainer, and I wasn’t really meaning that I
expected him to turn to the bottle. I only used Gascoine as an example of someone
who was a top sportsman who very much fell from grace. Gazza’s problems are not
solely related to drink, that’s just one of them.Maybe I should have made it clearer that I was talking about sportsmen in general
who struggle after being in the limelight, Gazza was just such a character who came
to mind as I was typing.Having said all that, I recalled comments made by McCoy during an interview with Oliver
Brown in the Telegraph. I managed to find it, it was in December 2013. What he said during
that interview was interesting …..“I’ve never drunk alcohol, purely because I didn’t want to like the taste of it,” McCoy reflects,
his face sharply pinched as he strives to stabilise his riding weight at 10½ stone. “I was
determined that my career wouldn’t be jeopardised by anything. I have nothing against people
drinking – all my family do – but I don’t need anything clouding my focus. I spend enough time
cursing myself for not riding as many winners as I should have.”Now I’m not suggesting McCoy is about to go on a bender, I don’t think that he will, just that
the comments suggested to me that it was more the case that he was scared that he might like the
taste, and it would interfere with the only thing that was truly important to him. It seems, in
his family circle at least, that they all like a drink.Again, I want to point out I don’t expect McCoy to turn to drink or any other form of abuse, all
I was trying to get across is that this is the most obsessive human being I have ever known, with
his obsession having now come to an end.He is walking into unchartered territory, and I wish him well.
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