National Hunt jockey Sir Anthony McCoy knighted at Buckingham Palace
Wednesday 22 June 2016 20:07, UK
Sir Anthony McCoy was knighted at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday, becoming only the second jockey to receive the honour after Sir Gordon Richards.
Before retiring from the saddle last year, McCoy dominated the sport of National Hunt racing, winning the Champion Jump Jockey title for 20 consecutive years, riding over 4,000 winners in the process.
McCoy said on Wednesday: "I obviously was very honoured the Princess Royal was conducting the ceremony.
"I am sure her daughter [Zara] probably told her to threaten to let the sword slip maybe just for the fun of it. But I was very honoured."
Check out the video above to see how Sir Anthony got on at the Palace.
But it's been quite a struggle for the star jockey to actually make it to the Queen's official residence in London.
The 41-year-old, who officially retired in April 2015, said: "For my MBE in 2003, all the dates I got there was racing all the time and I didn't want to take the day off.
"In the end they got fed up sending me dates so I never went to the Palace. For my OBE in 2010, I was racing again and I knew they wouldn't be happy.
"After 10 months of no dates, the Queen was was there to give the honours and she said 'oh hello, nice of you to show up!' I did feel a bit bad."
The jockey counted 31 Cheltenham Festival winners, as well as two Gold Cups and one famous Grand National success, among his big-race haul.
McCoy was also crowned champion jockey for 20 consecutive seasons, with the trophy decommissioned and awarded to him permanently at the end of the last campaign.
Click on the video below to hear about the Queen joking about his punctuality
