Dubai: Tony McCoy showed why he is widely regarded as one of the greatest jockeys of all time when showcasing his silken skills to win the Leger Legends Classified Stakes on the opening day of Doncaster’s four-day St Leger Festival.

McCoy, who he rode an astonishing 4,358 winners before bringing the curtain down on his glittering career in April, made a heroic one-off return to the saddle aboard the favourite Gannicus in the well-publicised charity race for retired jockeys.

Deafening cheers greeted the 20-times champion jump jockey as he returned to the winner’s enclosure on Wednesday after seeing off the challenge of former jump jockey and current racing presenter Luke Harvey, aboard Big Storm Coming.

“It’s nice to go out on a winner, but my riding days are over now. I’ve enjoyed today and it’s obviously all for a great cause,” he told Racing UK, after notching a 10th victory on the flat.

“I just wanted to keep it simple today and I knew after looking at his form this horse would stay as he’d raced over a mile and a half in the past.

“I was in a good enough position and I was hopeful I’d be able to persuade him to keep going.”

Since its launch in 2010, the Legends race has raised over £650,000 (Dh3.6 million) for the Northern Racing College in Doncaster and the Jack Berry House in Malton, which opened its doors in April of this year.

Tim Adams, chairman of the Leger Legends Committee, said: “The race just gets better and better. “I think the fear I have is that, after this year, it’s going to be very difficult to emulate this year’s line-up! With A P riding, it’s absolutely fantastic. “The saddle that he is using is going to be auctioned and we’ve already had a bid of £10,000. A P will sign the saddle after the race and hand it over to whoever is the highest bidder.

“We’ve also got six ex-Leger winners with us as well. Edward Hide, Joe Mercer, John Reid, George Duffield, Kevin Darley and, of course, the maestro himself, Lester Piggott.

Dale Gibson, who organised the jockeys for the race which he won on Bob for trainer Les Eyre last year, was delighted with the 16-strong turnout for this year’s race.

“It’s very much been a team effort this year and, collectively, we’ve all done a great job in securing the services of so many top ex-jockeys,” said Gibson.

Princess Anne was among the 500 guests attending the event.