Champion jockey AP McCoy was the hero of Ballybrit last year when won his

first-ever Galway Plate. Declan Cashin spoke to AP and his wife Chanelle about their plans for the Galway races 2011 ...

It will be a particularly triumphant homecoming when Loughrea native Chanelle McCoy arrives in Galway for this year's races along with her husband, Antrim-born jockey AP McCoy, and their three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Eve.

Earlier this month the McCoys finally made it to Buckingham Palace to collect AP's OBE from the queen, some seven months after the honour was first announced. And as Chanelle explains, the delay didn't go unnoticed by Her Majesty.

"The first thing the queen said to AP was, 'I was wondering when you were going to come'," Chanelle recalls, laughing. "We had tried to arrange several dates to collect it, but AP would never take a day off. We had an amazing day. Just driving in the gates of the Palace is a surreal experience.

"AP and the queen had plenty to chat about because she has a huge passion for racehorses, and a couple of days previous her horse had ran in the Irish Derby. Our daughter Eve couldn't believe that daddy was talking to the queen. Eve was glued to the TV watching the royal wedding in April, so she obviously understood who the queen was. It was very exciting and thrilling."

AP McCoy returns to Ballybrit as the reigning champion of the Galway Plate.

"I like coming back to Galway each year, the atmosphere in the city and at the track is electric," says AP.

"I feel that previously we may have taken it for granted when race tracks were busy, and racing was getting a great following, and lots of money was being pumped into the game.

"However, racing, like many sports and industries, has been hit hard, and as a jockey racing in this climate, you tend to appreciate a lot more when people make the effort to come and support your game, especially as there are so many other sports to choose from."

For Chanelle, the Galway Races are in the blood. Her grandfather was a jockey, and her parents, Michael and Mary Burke, always owned and trained horses. The family's company, Chanelle Medical, which employs 250 people, even shuts down for the week of the races.

"As kids, we were dragged all over the country to different race meets," Chanelle recalls. "We were half reared on the racetrack."

In fact, Chanelle herself has enjoyed her taste of glory on the tracks of Ballybrit. "I spent about three years jockeying during summers in college," she says. "It was only messing around, really, but in 1996 I won the amateur race in Galway on one of my dad's horses. I never expected to win it. That's my biggest and best memory of the Galway Races so far."

The week is always an eventful one for the McCoys, who will set up camp in the family home in Loughrea. "We always have friends and relatives staying for the week," she says. "Every morning there are between 15 and 20 people there for breakfast. It's like a bus station, but that buzz is what it's all about."

The McCoys aim to arrive on the Monday morning of the races, and their itinerary is very much dictated by AP's race schedule. "AP will most likely race everyday," Chanelle says. "AP is JP McManus's jockey, so it depends on what horses he is running. His routine every morning is to have a sweat in a hot bath first thing. That takes an hour to lose 4lbs in order to maintain his weight.

"After that, he will play a few holes of golf most days. AP likes to get to the races early as the traffic is usually very heavy throughout the week."

The extent of AP's socialising is entirely determined by what weight he's doing the next day. "AP is tall -- nearly 5ft 11in -- so he has to watch his weight and eat less than other jockeys," Chanelle says. "If he's doing light-weight the next day, we might go for a drink, usually in the champagne tent at the races. That's great fun, and we'd spend a few hours there while we let the traffic go. The nights that he can't go out, we might pop into a local pub in Loughrea -- there are 53 to choose from!"

The McCoys have a few other favourite haunts in the city where they like to spend time during race week. "Morans on the Weir is always a really lively spot," Chanelle says. "We always go to the Meyrick Hotel for a drink to meet our friends and get a plan together for the night. We'd spent most of the week with Ruby Walsh and his wife Gillian, and JP McManus's son Kieran and his wife Anne Marie, who are really close friends of ours.

"We'd also eat in the G Hotel, and the odd time pop down to Quay Street for a drink."

Although AP's schedule might inhibit his social activity throughout the week, it doesn't make Chanelle a 'racing widow' sitting in alone on the couch while he sweats it out in a hot bath upstairs.

"The nights be can't go out or do things, I would always just go ahead with our friends," she says. "I know he'd prefer that I don't leave a party or sacrifice any fun in order just to go home early with him. He'd feel bad about that. I make no bones about saying to him, 'This is a week of fun and for catching up with my girlfriends,' and he appreciates that. AP comes from a family with four sisters, and they are the biggest social butterflies you could ever meet when they come down to Galway. So he's grown up in that environment."

Needless to say, Chanelle puts a lot of planning into her wardrobe for the week of the races. "In fact, I'd say I put more thought into what I'm going to wear the week of the Galway Races than I do probably for Cheltenham, Aintree or Ascot," she says. "The fashion bar has really been raised in Galway over the past five years. In order to keep up with the others you have to put in that extra bit of effort."

Chanelle won the Best Dressed title herself at the Races in 2005, which she describes as "a wonderful honour, especially because it was on my home turf." Her top advice for the ladies gunning for this year's title is dress appropriate for a racetrack.

"I think some women dress like they're going to a wedding in Spain or to a disco," she adds. "The accessories are key. Whatever shoes, bag and hat you have should complement your outfit rather than work against it. People can overdo the colours and patterns. It all has to work. If you do have a very busy dress then you should have relatively plain accessories, or vice versa."

So what designers will be stowed in her suitcase for Galway this year? "I have a dress by the designer Roland Mouret, and I'm planning on wearing a Jenny Packham dress for the Thursday," Chanelle reveals.

"I love the milliner Mark Burke, based in Loughrea. His designs are very elegant and edgy. I've gotten a number of hats from him over the last few years. He made four for me for Cheltenham and three for Aintree, as well as my hat for Ascot.

"He's designed a hat for me that I'm going to wear on the Wednesday of the races, and, because I'm a believer in recycling outfits, I'm going to use it again for Zara Phillip's wedding [to rugby player Mark Tindall], which is in Edinburgh on the Saturday of race week."

Chanelle explains she became friends with Queen Elizabeth's granddaughter when Phillips was dating National Hunt jockey Richard Johnson, and have stayed in contact ever since.

"She is a lovely girl, and she adores her racing," Chanelle laughs. "It'll be a super wedding. There are 400 people going, and there will be a lot less formality to this royal wedding. Zara and Mike are a very low-key couple. Zara doesn't like the attention or the fuss. She likes to stay under the radar."

All throughout the festival, AP can take comfort in the knowledge that his biggest fan is present cheering him from the sidelines. "Eve loves going racing," Chanelle says. "She knows daddy's colours are green and gold, and she is so vocal at the races. She'll be shouting support, and if he gets beat she'll ask, 'What happened Daddy? Why did Ruby beat you?'

"She loves dressing up, too. Eve might hear me say that I need to sort out what I'm going to bring to Galway, and she'll be pulling out her dresses saying, 'I want to wear this one and this one'. AP loves having her there. He hates leaving England without her. She comes with us everywhere we can bring her."

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