BBC Sports Personality of 2010

A MAN on a horse should always beat another man carrying half his weight in metal but the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award is never as straightforward as that.

Since the final field of 10 contenders were announced at the end of last month, a big favourite has emerged in the shape of 15-times champion jockey AP McCoy.

The 36-year-old finally won the Grand National for the first time in April on board Don t Push It after many years of heartache and near-misses when his undisputed talent seemed destined never to be capped off by winning the big one.

But that win alone does not account for his evens favourite tag with Paddy Power.

His 21-year career has seen him ride more than 3,000 winners, and recognition with the big gong would have as much to do with his years at the top of the sport as with that afternoon in Liverpool.

What the win at Aintree did do was ensure McCoy a place in the top-10 shortlist and once he was there, he was always sure to gain the support of the racing public.

He would be a deserving winner, both for this year, and all the others when he missed out even on the shortlist, but there are others equally keen to be named sports personality of 2010.

Chief among them are two golfers Graeme McDowell and Lee Westwood who have both had amazing years.

Likeable Northern Irishman McDowell became the first Brit since Tony Jacklin in 1970 to win the US Open, and followed that by holing the putt that won Europe the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor.

Westwood, meanwhile, is officially the best golfer in the world, having usurped Tiger Woods from that position after approximately 752 years at the top!

He too is the kind of person you could imagine having a good pint with down the local and, like McCoy, has seemingly been around for an eternity, so any win would be career recognition as much as for this year s achievements alone.

The problem the golfers have is that they are likely to take away votes from each other.

McDowell s major victory has him the higher in the odds, with Ladbrokes offering a best price of 9/2, as opposed to Westwood s 16/1 with Paddy Power though he is as short as 7/1 with Ladbrokes.

Golf fans will have their personal favourite between the two and the split in support means both are unlikely to see off McCoy, but there is one man who can.

Phil Taylor is a 15-time world champion in one of the most unfashionable sports you can get.

Winning at the oche has always carried a certain amount of ridicule as darts has been labelled as barely being a sport, at best not one worthy of wider recognition.

But darts also has a wide fanbase and Taylor is acknowledged as being the best ever to tickle the tungsten.

Anyone doubting his chances on Sunday need only look at Paddy Power s odds for the Stoke man, which started out at 40/1 and rocketed in to 8/1 within two days of the shortlist being announced.

Like McCoy, he will carry his entire sport with him into the arena and, like McCoy, he has years of success under his belt and the feeling of being unrecognised for his past achievements.

If anyone can unseat the jockey at the final hurdle, it will be him, and the 12/1 Paddy s are now offering is definitely worth a punt as the only real money-maker from the event.

As for more own personal preference none of the above.

If it had to be from these four favourites, it would be McDowell, but the man I would pick out for the second year running is cyclist Mark Cavendish.

Cavendish finished fourth in the contest last year, but was 100/1 to win it before the shortlist was announced.

Even now, he is 50/1 with Ladbrokes odds which reflect his general anonymity but not his achievements on a bike.

The Manxman was being written off going into this year s Tour de France as he failed to capture his form from 2009.

But Cavendish proved once more he is the fastest man in the world on two wheels, claiming five stage wins and coming within a small margin of taking the green jersey.

My own respect for cyclists no doubt influences my own pick and I accept he has no real chance.

But he is one of this country s few world-beaters and deserves the recognition for being so.

Alas, he is in a sport where people will more often talk about drugs problems off the road than performances on it, and he will be an also-ran.

Of the other contenders, Winter Olympics gold medallist Amy Williams suffers from having been at the centre of public attention too long ago, while Tom Daley may have to wait another two years for his big day.

David Haye is a shock inclusion and deserved 100/1 outsider after his farcical bout against Audley Harrison, while the Ashes cannot be won in time for Graeme Swann to be picked.

McCoy or Taylor it is then. Both deserving winners, but one destined for a rare loss.

l On another note, I d like to know when those outside the racing community jumped on the old AP moniker, having happily called him Tony for just about his entire career.

Is this a reinvention along the lines of Andy Cole becoming Andrew, or Stevenage Borough becoming Stevenage FC?

Or is it an indication that his National win has finally pushed him into the spotlight more than any number of champion jockey titles ever could and thus made him well enough known that his nickname will suffice?

For those wondering, AP stands for Anthony Peter, something no-one would have bothered to ask, let alone tell you before his sudden rise to sports personality award favourite status.

First published at 13:11, Thursday