Victoria Pendleton Quotes

I just look like someone with a long face. Not just A. P. McCoy himself, but some of the horses he rides.

I've ridden 3,651 winners, if that's any good to you. I don't count the falls. I count the winners.

My first winner was on Legal Steps, in Ireland, at Thurles, in March 1992. I rode for Jim Bolger, and his stable jockey was Christy Roche.

No matter how long I go without riding winners, I know in the back of my head that I can ride.

I crossed paths with a horse that happened to change my life. That horse is Game On Dude, and what a horse! He's a soldier. Together we traveled the world. We won the Santa Anita Big Cap, Goodwood, almost won the Breeder's Cup Classic; we won the San Antonio, Hollywood Gold Cup and the Californian.

I started to ride when I was very young, and it's a sport I have practised for a very long time.

I feel like I was born to ride the track.

I gallop and jump and ride young horses with intense pleasure.

I was determined my 4,000th winner would be in the green and gold colours of J. P. McManus and trained by Jonjo O'Neill, who have been my greatest supporters.

I love horseback riding. I still do it.

I hope to be remembered as a very good jockey.

The National is about however long it takes to run that race - eight minutes of fame - but champion jockey is about racing 365 days a year. I actually wouldn't swap any of my winners for the National.

At first I wanted to be a jockey. I rode horses in Cleveland but I kept falling off and I was afraid of horses. So there wasn't much of a future in it.

From a public perspective, the Grand National is the biggest race of all, and not to have won it yet is definitely a failure. But there's been a lot of jockeys every bit as good and better than me that haven't won it - John Francome, Peter Scudamore, Jonjo O'Neill, Charlie Swan, to name a few.

I get butterflies before going out to ride every day, but they disappear as soon as I am on a horse, and I think that is the same for most jockeys. Then it is just down to you and the horse, and there is a certain freedom in that.

If a horse has four legs, and I'm riding it, I think I can win.

I played a great horse yesterday! It took seven horses to beat him.

… human thoroughbreds

I've had a passion for horses since I was very young - I used to sit on the floor in front of the races on television and pretend to be a jockey - and I first began reading the racing form on the set of 'The Partridge Family.'

I grew up riding. From the time I was nineteen years old to the time I was twenty five I exercised race horses.

I had great faith in Prince Of Penzance, from the moment I rode him for the first time.

I might have been a jockey, you know. I started by riding horses bareback and holding on to the mane before they finally threw me off.

We had six horses, and I would compete. Jumping. Cabinets full of cups. I always won.

I actually used to compete at show-jumping when I was a young'un.

Apparently, I have such a serious race face, even when I'm doing a bit of work, at first everybody wasn't sure if I was enjoying it or not. But it's absolutely exhilarating. It feels like you're one with your horse and you're flying.