Pat Eddery, who has died aged 63, was 11 times champion jockey and the winner of 14 British classics, including three Derbys; he won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe four times, most memorably in 1986 when his magnificent performance making up ground from a seemingly impossible position aboard Dancing Brave produced one of the most thrilling finishes in Flat racing history.
During the course of his career, Eddery, known for his bravura finishes and “bump-bump” riding style, partnered 4,632 winners in Britain – beating his friend Lester Piggott, and only exceeded by Sir Gordon Richards – with a dedication that earned him nicknames including “the Iceman” (for his sang-froid) and “Polyfilla” (for his desire to fill any gap in the field). It was his 1986 ride at the Arc on Prince Khalid Abdullah’s Dancing Brave, however, that showed Eddery at his finest, as a precise, confident and instinctive sportsman for whom horses loved to run.
He had only recently replaced Dancing Brave’s previous jockey, Greville Starkey, but having ridden the bay colt to victory in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot Eddery had already decided on his tactics for the Arc’s testing course at Longchamp. When the trainer, Guy Harwood, asked him how he was planning to ride, the jockey replied, with characteristic terseness: “You won’t see him until late.” An anxious Harwood, Eddery later recalled, “looked at me in disgust and walked away.”
Dancing Brave ridden by Pat Eddery winning the 1986 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
That year Dancing Brave was facing one of the strongest Arc line-ups ever assembled, and Eddery’s decision to hold back was a gamble. “When Guy walked out,” he said, “I remember thinking: 'This had better bloody win now!’ ”
As the race began the jockey held Dancing Brave towards the rear of the field, but when the brilliant French-trained chestnut, Bering, moved into the lead, Eddery decided to track him . “When I finally pulled him out, Dancing Brave did not pick up as quick as Bering but when he did he was electrifying,” Eddery recalled. “Boy, did he go. I have never felt anything like it.”
A Racing Post poll later ranked Dancing Brave’s stunning final surge at the Arc – along with another of Eddery’s finest moments, the King George on Grundy – as one of the greatest Flat races of all time.
Eddery had a reputation for being taciturn and unsmiling; he was once observed walking past an eager autograph hunter without even acknowledging his presence. But his feeling for horses brought spectacular results, and he applied himself to his task with total single-mindedness – whatever the race. “That’s all part of the game,” he said, “going to the Folkestones and the smaller tracks, because it’s not Royal Ascot every day. You’ve got to be out there every day working those muscles … There may be more money for a Derby than a seller but that doesn’t make you try any harder. A winner is a winner.”
Patrick James John Eddery was born at Newbridge, Co Kildare, close to the Curragh racecourse, on March 18 1952. The son of the Irish champion jockey Jimmy Eddery, Pat, who was one of 13 children, began riding ponies at the age of four and racehorses by the time he was eight. He was apprenticed to Seamus McGrath, and at the age of 15 had his first ride on True Time, which came in last at the Curragh in August 1967.
Eddery holds up the trophy after winning the Arc in 1986
Later that year he joined the trainer Frenchie Nicholson’s jockey academy outside Cheltenham. “I owe just about 100 per cent of it to Frenchie,” he recalled, “who taught me how to ride and, even more importantly, looked after me. ” He rode his first winner, Alvaro, at Epsom on April 24 1969.
For the next five years of his apprenticeship he was given only one day off every three weeks, but the gruelling regime paid off. After joining Peter Walwyn’s stables at Lambourn, Eddery was champion jockey in four successive seasons from 1974 to 1977. It was here in 1975 that his partnership with Grundy, Walwyn’s flashy chestnut colt, brought him the first of his three Derby wins, triumph in the Irish 2,000 Guineas and Irish Derby and, most memorably, in the King George.
The three-year-old Grundy was the hot favourite at 5/4 on, but the solid field included Lady Beaverbrook’s four-year-old Bustino, winner of the 1974 St Leger. Bustino and his jockey Joe Mercer were ahead by four lengths when Eddery and Grundy began their acceleration. Grundy overtook Bustino but Mercer refused to give up and retook the lead.
The pair were 50 yards from the finish line when Grundy again moved ahead, winning by half a length. “Grundy was so game, had such a big heart, ” recalled Eddery of the relentless duel. “He caught and passed Bustino but I never thought I’d win until the last two strides . A few strides after the post Grundy was almost walking. The effort crucified him. It finished them both.”
In 1981 Eddery signed with the trainer Vincent O’Brien and his principal owner, Robert Sangster, and went on to notch up wins that year at the Irish 2,000 Guineas and the Sussex Stakes on Kings Lake; in the following season’s Derby on Golden Fleece; in the 1983 2,000 Guineas on Lomond; and in the 1984 2,000 Guineas on El Gran Senor. The top-rated colt also won the Irish Derby that season and was the heavily fancied favourite to win the Derby, but was narrowly beaten in a dramatic finish by the courageous Secreto, ridden furiously by Christy Roche. Eddery was mortified by his defeat on El Gran Senor, believing that he would have won had he waited a fraction longer before making his move.
Pat Eddery on Grundy comes home to win the George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes, 1975
Following his 1986 win at the Arc on Dancing Brave, Eddery spent seven years as Khalid Abdullah’s retained jockey, riding the best of the prince’s horses including Zafonic, on whom he won his third and last 2,000 Guineas in 1993, and Quest For Fame, who gave him his third and last Derby in 1990. He won the Arc on three other occasions, piloting Detroit (1980), Rainbow Quest (1985) and Trempolino (1987).
He took his only 1,000 Guineas in 1996 on Bosra Sham; won the Oaks with Polygamy (1974), Scintillate (1979) and Lady Carla (1996); and his final Classic win was on Silver Patriarch in the 1997 St Leger, his fourth winner of the race after Moon Madness (1986), Toulon (1991) and Moonax (1994). In America he triumphed in two Breeders’ Cups: on Pebbles in 1985 and Sheikh Albadou in 1991.
His technique typically involved giving his mount a few reminders with the whip in a race’s closing stages. But he had little time for what he saw as excessive punishments for whip over-use. “Racehorses are the best looked-after animals in the world,” he said.
Eddery’s professionalism was reflected in his self-discipline over weight-control. He aimed to tip the scales at 8 stone plus a few lbs, and the Derby-winning jockey Ray Cochrane once noted that he had “never seen him finish a sandwich”.
Eddery retired from racing at the end of the Flat season in 2003 and in 2005 took a training licence, setting up a stable of 40 horses near Aylesbury. He also co-founded Pat Eddery Racing, a syndication company providing the opportunity for people to own shares in racehorses.
He published an autobiography, To Be a Champion, in 1992, and was appointed honorary OBE in 2005.
Eddery married Carolyn Mercer, daughter of the jockey Manny Mercer and the niece of Joe, in 1978; the marriage was dissolved in 2009. He is survived by two daughters and a son.
Pat Eddery, born March 18 1952, died November 10 2015
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