AP “Tony” McCoy, the legendary jump jockey, has revealed his intention to retire.

“It’s going to be the last time I ride 200 winners,” he said on Saturday after riding Mr Mole to victory at the weekend.

“Having spoken to Dave (Roberts, agent) and JP McManus, I am going to be retiring at the end of the season.”

McCoy said: “I want to go out at top, I want to go out as champion jockey and it will be my 20th year if I can win the jockeys’ championship. I want to go out while I still enjoy riding and am still relatively at the top.”

His wife Chanelle said: “It’s a decision he’s battled with very much, some days he’s at peace with it and some days he’s sad. It will be great for him to go out on a high and hopefully we will get him out in one piece.”

She went on: “It’s a very big decision and a decision like that he has to live with, so he has to make it himself. He knew my preference for him to retire at the end of the season, but I never pushed him. He’s very much his own man and he makes up his own mind.”

McCoy said he will “really miss” riding when he retires at the end of the season, adding: “Time waits for no man, so it’s not going to wait for me.”

He explained that after speaking to McManus, he had called Roberts to the house for a meeting and talked things through. “I hadn’t even told Chanelle at that stage,” he said.

He went on to admit that he had nearly decided to quit last April, but had decided to wait and see if he could ride 300 winners this season.

“I probably, believe it or not, had actually spoke to JP about it in April, that it was a possible,” he said. “I got a real thing about going out in a blaze of glory and I thought through the early part of the season that I was going to ride 300 winners.

“Then I got injured at Worcester and I went back riding a few days after having been in a lot of pain. That probably wasn’t the brightest thing to do, but I thought I had to – if I was going to ride 300 winners, I thought I had to keep riding.

“That kind of broke my heart a little bit. I thought that I could ride 300 winners and the fact that was taken away broke my heart a little bit.

“It’s emotional because I’m retiring from something I like doing. That’s tough.

“I have been very lucky to have a great way of life for the last 25 years.

“It was something that was always in the back of my mind, I wanted to retire while I was champion jockey and I thought 20 championships was a good number. Time waits for no man in sport. It’s not going to wait for me.

McCoy started working with horses at the age of 13, working full-time from leaving school at 15. His weight rocketed after some time off with a broken leg following a fall whilst employed at Jim Bolger’s and this was the deciding factor which drove McCoy from Flat to jumps racing.

McCoy’s riding injuries have included: broken middle and lower vertebrae, both shoulder blades, both collarbones, ribs, ankle, cheekbones, wrist, ankle and leg plus a dislocated thumb and chipped teeth.

It took McCoy 15 attempts before sealing an elusive first victory in the Grand National aboard the gambled-on Don’t Push It in 2010. Bookmakers recorded a loss of around £50million on the race.

– McCoy has been the retained jockey for owner JP McManus for 10 years.

– McCoy has been crowned champion jockey 19 times.

– McCoy was 17 when riding his first winner, Legal Steps, to victory for Jim Bolger at Thurles in 1992.

– McCoy rode his first winner in England aboard the Gordon Edwards-trained Chickabiddy at Exeter on September 7, 1994. – Press Association.