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Who is Chanelle McCoy? New Dragons’ Den dragon and wife of legendary jockey AP McCoy

BUSINESSWOMAN Chanelle McCoy is the newest member of the Dragons' Den team after Eamonn Quinn quit.

The mum-of-two will sit alongside veteran Dragons Gavin Duffy, Barry O’Sullivan, Alison Cowzer and Eleanor McEvoy after joining the RTE show.

And with Chanelle joining Alison and Eleanor, it's the first ever trio of women in the international history of the business series.

Who is Chanelle?

Glamorous Chanelle may be best known as the wife of racing legend AP McCoy - but she's a business success in her own right.

The year-old's main job is director of Chanelle Medical, a Galway-based pharmaceutical firm with staff and an annual turnover of more than €million.

Despite carrying her name, the company was set up by her vet dad Michael Burke in the Eighties and she jumped on board 16 years ago.

And while you might think the firm was named after her, Chanelle was actually the name of a shop her family once lived over.

Chanelle lives in Berkshire, England, with hubby AP - but spends one week a month in Galway at Chanelle Medical HQ.

She also set up a fashion boutique - Mojo & McCoy - along with a number of friends including Camilla Parker Bowles' daughter Laura Lopes in Hungerford, England.

What does her company do?

Chanelle Medical was initially set up as a animal drugs company but it also produces a number of drugs for humans now.

And last year, the Galway-based company won a prestigious gong at Ireland's Pharma Industry Awards, the Pharma Project of the Year - Small award.

The firm scooped the award for its development of a drug that treats musculoskeletal disorders, like arthritis, in horses.

It spent five years working on the drug, which was a world first for horses.

Chanelle looks after the human generic drugs division, while her dad looks after its animal products.

She told the Belfast Telegraph: "Now, dad and I are neck and neck with turnover.

Chanelle mccoy gok wan biography wikipedia The ECHO caught up with AP McCoy’s wife after she chatted to Channel 4’s favourite fashion expert Gok Wan at the racecourse.

Which is really exciting.

"I'm quite proud to say that I have products now in 69 countries around the world. My father is in 80 countries in veterinary (products). So that's my next goal, really."

Chanelle is so dedicated to her work that she reportedly returned to her role at the company just nine weeks after her second child, son Archie, was born.

And Chanelle - who hoped to work for the family business from a young age - says she always wants to make her dad proud.

She said: "I wanted to replicate what he did - and I wanted to show him that I was a high achiever and that I could be successful.

"So that kept me motivated all the time.

I didn't want to fail."

Why was she picked for Dragons' Den?

Chanelle was chosen after Eamonn Quinn was forced to quit his role on the show.

The RTE series was supposed to be filmed in January but it ended up being delayed until March.

But this meant Eamonn, who is the son of Superquinn chief Feargal and the supermarket's former deputy chairman, had commitments in the US that he couldn't get out of.

This meant that TV bosses turned to Chanelle to fill the show's empty seat.

And with her business experience, that started when she left Ireland to study marketing and finance in London aged 21, she was a perfect person to bring on board.

Where would I recognise Chanelle from?

Chanelle is probably best known for being in a relationship with jockey AP McCoy.

They first met at Punchestown race course, in Co Kildare, in before going on to marry a decade later.

They have two kids, daughter Eve, ten, and four-year-old son Archie.

She supported AP throughout his 20 seasons as a jockey and regularly was beside him after his wins.

But Chanelle has said that business was her number one priority.

Chanelle mccoy gok wan biography Retired horse racing legend AP McCoy enjoyed plenty of successful days on the racecourse during a stellar career - and his wife Chanelle is a storming success in her own line of work. McCoy.

She said: "For me work always came first, before any race meeting.

"Touch wood, we have a very strong marriage and I think the making of us has been that I have had my career going in parallel to his. I've never lived my life through his career."

Was Chanelle happy when AP retired?

Chanelle previously shared her fears for AP, when a year before his retirement after his 20th season as a jockey, she told of her want for him to leave the sport.

She said: "I'd like to get him out in one piece.

I want him healthy. He's a dad and I want him to be there for the children."

And Chanelle has admitted that she doesn't want her son to follow in AP's footsteps, insisting: "I wouldn't like to see him be a jockey."

Previously, Chanelle also told how she was forced to rush back home after hearing AP injured himself.

She said: "I remember being in Germany and getting a call to say, 'AP's broken his back, he's in an ambulance, he's in a critical condition'.

"And all you're thinking is 'I have got to get through this meeting and I've got to get the first flight back'."

Did they ever have any issues?

Chanelle previously told how she was forced to walk out on AP a number of times due to his controlling behaviour.

She previously gave an emotional interview where she told how the early years of their relationship was unhealthy.

Chanelle told the Mail on Sunday: "His sick way of controlling me was connected to his crippling fear of failure.

"I would get home and he would be sitting there bawling his eyes out.

He had become Champion Jockey but he was driving himself demented thinking he might not be number one the following year.

"I could see where the madness was coming from, and I knew that underneath it he was fundamentally a good person, but I also knew that he was never going to make me happy unless he could be happy in himself."

Eight years into their relationship, things blew up when AP decided to go on a lads' golf trip rather than attend the wedding of one of Chanelle's closest friends.

She added: "I told AP it was over between us.

Gok wan Glamorous Chanelle may be best known as the wife of racing legend AP McCoy - but she's a business success in her own right. The year-old's main job is director of Chanelle Medical, a.

With every other bust-up, he had known he could get me back, but that one was different.

"I had met this other guy - nothing had happened, but he was everything that AP wasn't - and AP was convinced he had blown it. From that day, he changed.

"We don't row very much now. I joke sometimes that we must be due an argument, but not so long ago, he said 'Chanelle, I know you don't need me, but I need you'.

"And I love him to bits and would be devastated without him, but I have my job, my friends, my family and my own money and I'm not at his mercy, and that is the difference.