Racing: McCoy closes in on record as Johnson breaks leg in fall

Richard Dunwoody has probably just enjoyed his last night in bed as the most successful jumps jockey of all time. Tony McCoy has chased him down, just as he has all the good bandits of National Hunt racing and, in a few hours' time, Dunwoody is likely to be old potatoes.

"The Prince" amassed a rather daunting 1,699 winners during his wondrous career, but the spiky walls around his record have not proved formidable enough. McCoy is now only two short of smashing it to pieces after a double at Newton Abbot yesterday and rich opportunities lie ahead at Uttoxeter this afternoon.

It should not be forgotten that Martin Pipe is an indelible figure behind all the jockeys which have compiled great mounds of winners at the jumping game. He supplied Peter Scudamore, who lies in third place on the history board, he supplied Dunwoody also, and McCoy's two winners yesterday were conjured up by the little man from Somerset.

Rakaposhi Lass, McCoy's first winner in a maiden hurdle, was a prolific bumper winner but showed yesterday that she is a greenhorn over obstacles. Her jockey had to bring his adhesive bottom into play as he guided home his first winner of the afternoon.

In the handicap hurdle, Lunar Crystal should have been a feet-on-the-dashboard winnner as he possessed the superior form over timber and was also a Listed winner on the Flat. This, though, did not appear to be the case as the four-year-old was booted along from some way out, the Richard Johnson-ridden Ragdale Hall providing the ominous fin in his slipstream.

As ever though, McCoy kept pumping away, and when it came down to a battle of wills in the straight, he had transferred his fortitude to Lunar Crystal.

Johnson, the nearest we have to a challenger for the jockeys' title, was denied, and the prospects of a competitive chase for this season's championship were further removed when he was badly injured in the following race.

Johnson was on Lincoln Place in a novice handicap chase when the partnership was brought to earth by a shocking fall. The early diagnosis was that the rider had suffered a broken right leg. He broke the same limb in similar circumstances at Exeter 10 months ago.

Lincoln Place had the race at his mercy but fell at the final fence, flipping over in mid-air and catapulting the rider to the turf. The horse then landed on top of him in front of the bumper Bank Holiday crowd.

Pat Masterson, Newton Abbot's managing director, said: "It seems that Richard has broken the femur in his upper right leg and he will be taken to Torbay General Hospital." Yesterday evening, a hospital spokeswoman described Johnson's condition as "quite comfortable".

McCoy said that he would visit Johnson last night and said: "All of my thoughts are with Richard, as it's heart-breaking for him, especially as the same thing happened to him last year, but he'll be back."

Golan, who has been brought out of retirement once already, has been set another Sinatra date for his last race in the Japan Cup at Tokyo on 24 November.

This much was revealed by the secret agent which is Sir Michael Stoute, the colt's trainer, yesterday. It always seems as if Stoute carries a cyanide capsule in his lapel pocket just in case someone asks him how old he is. He gives nothing much away but rather strange metaphors concerning cricket.

A daft question he greets as "a long hop", a more challenging one as "a googly". If he tried his sort of stuff in a pub he'd probably leave under a siren.

Golan will be making a return visit to Japan after finishing a near five-lengths sixth behind Jungle Pocket in the mile-and-a-half event last year. In making their plans, connections took into consideration Golan's ability to withstand the long journey involved in sending the colt half-way round the world for his swansong.

"Christy Grassick [of Coolmore Stud], the Weinstock family and I are very keen to return to Tokyo with Golan for the Japan Cup," Stoute said. "He proved last year that he has the physical and mental toughness for the long journey. We have not, as yet, arranged his interim programme."

The winner of last year's 2,000 Guineas and the Prix Niel, Golan returned to the track this season and became the first horse to land the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on his seasonal debut, beating Nayef by a head. However, he was unable to repeat the success at York last week when Marcus Tregoning's charge gained revenge over the extended mile and a quarter of the International Stakes.

Stoute is chasing his third success in the Japan Cup, having won the race in 1996 and 1997 with Singspiel and Pilsudski respectively. Golan will retire after the hat-trick attempt to perform stud duties at Coolmore.

Atlantic's big surge

Atlantic viking clocked a very quick time when scorching home at 16-1 in the Tote Exacta Sprint Handicap at Epsom yesterday. The five-furlong track on the Surrey course is the fastest in the world.

Although no official time was recorded due to a technical fault, Joe Fanning's mount was hand-timed by race-readers at 53.9secs, just three-tenths outside the record set by Indigenous in 1960.

Frankie Dettori sent many in the Bank Holiday crowd home happy by completing a near 183-1 four-timer on Moving Experience in the closing Ron Smyth Handicap.