ALWAYS leave them wanting more.

In a broad sense, that is pretty much what Tony McCoy is doing with his plan to call it a day at the top after being officially crowned Champion Jockey for the 20th consecutive time at Sandown next weekend.

It was certainly the way he departed the scene following his last appearance at the Coral Scottish Grand National meeting at Ayr yesterday afternoon. Racecourse officials had prepared a special presentation for the 40-year-old Northern Irishman after the final attraction of the day, but things did not quite go to plan as Lettheriverrundry came in sixth behind the Nicky Henderson-trained William Henry in the JV Scaffolding Standard Open Flat Race.

A large crowd had waited on the lawns of the Club Enclosure beside the Parade Ring for one last glimpse of this horse-racing icon. They had lavished their applause upon him as he had cantered past the Grandstand to the starting line just 10 minutes or so earlier and were primed and ready to show their appreciation again.

McCoy had other ideas. He accepted his gifts behind-the-scenes and skipped out of the weighing room to meet his boss, the Irish millionaire JP McManus, and head straight for a private jet.

What many may not realise is that we may yet see McCoy on Scottish soil again before retirement beckons. Keen eyes will have noticed he has been booked for Jonjo O'Neill's Rock N Rhythm in the last contest at Perth, the Aberdeen Asset Management Handicap Hurdle, on Wednesday.

McCoy enjoys his outings to Scotland. Although his three rides yesterday failed to bear fruit and left his career total at an incredible 4348 wins after steering Capard King to victory on Friday, he was effusive about the way he has been welcomed north of the border.

"It is great here," said McCoy. "The people are really nice, really sociable and they know their racing. You get well looked after and it is going to be a bit different not coming up here.

"I won some nice races here and it is going to be a bit disappointing not to be able to do that any more, but it happens to every sports person."

Results are what McCoy has always been driven by, though. In that respect, it was a disappointing afternoon. Upsilon Bleu came third behind the Dan Skelton-trained Rascal in the Ayrshire Hospice Making Today Matter Handicap Hurdle and his attempt to land a third Scottish Champion Hurdle bit the dust when Sea Lord, already under pressure, clipped the second last to fall out of contention.

Cheltenian, ridden by Andrew Tinkler and priced at a handsome 10-1, produced a performance as game as they come to hold off Sign Of A Victory by a neck in a thrilling finish to the QTS-sponsored event with trainer, Philip Hobbs, thrilled to see him finish first past the post for the first time since December 2013.

Hobbs had decided to leave the horse, which spent the best part of two years on the sidelines after damaging tendons when winning the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham in 2011, out of the Grand National meeting at Aintree because the ground at Ayr looked more in his favour. He conceded, however, that the sunshine at Ayr yesterday left him in a mild sweat over the ground becoming too fast underfoot.

"We didn't really target the race," said the Somerset-based trainer. "It just came along at the right time.

"We had to decide whether to go to Aintree or to wait for this. With the forecast being for a fair bit of rain and the ground up here being all right, we decided on this. Then, we were s******g ourselves over whether it was going to dry up too much. We hoped he'd run well, but we didn't think he'd go and win."