27 Facts About Pat Eddery

Patrick James John Eddery was an Irish flat racing jockey and trainer.

Pat Eddery rode three winners of the Derby and was Champion Jockey on eleven occasions.

Pat Eddery rode the winners of 4,632 British flat races, a figure exceeded only by Sir Gordon Richards.

Pat Eddery was the fifth child of Jimmy Eddery, a jockey who rode Panaslipper to win the Irish Derby in 1955, and Josephine.

Pat Eddery attended the Patrician Brothers' Primary School in Newbridge and when the family later moved to Blackrock, the Oatlands Primary School in Stillorgan.

Pat Eddery began his career as an apprentice jockey in Ireland with the stable of Seamus McGrath.

Pat Eddery's first ride was at the Curragh in August 1967 where he finished last of the 7 runners.

Pat Eddery was first voted the Jockey of the Year in 1974 by the Horserace Writers' Association.

Pat Eddery finished his retainer with Peter Walwyn in 1980 after two seasons of equine virus acutely affecting the Walwyn stables.

When in the mid-1980s the Arab owners began to dominate the British racing scene, Pat Eddery was retained globally by the owner of Juddmonte stables, Arab prince Khalid Abdullah, a position he held until 1994, after which he rode as freelance jockey until his retirement from the saddle at the end of 2003.

Pat Eddery's riding style was not elegant by normal standards, owing to his habit of bouncing up and down in the saddle as he urged his mounts on at the final finishes, but was undeniably effective.

Pat Eddery rode for the Newmarket trainer Geoffrey Barling in 1972 before taking over as the stable jockey for Peter Walwyn later that year.

Pat Eddery was well known for riding champion horses like Sadler's Wells, Danehill.

Pat Eddery was famed for riding for big owners as well as champion trainers.

Apart from the later illustrious associations with Robert Sangster, Arab giant owners Prince Khalid bin Abdullah, Wafic Said and Maktoum al-Maktoum, he rode to winners in the then Colony of Hong Kong on the first ever race horse to be owned by tycoon Li Ka Shing, called 'Golden Victory' and trained by English trainer John Brown to whom Pat Eddery rode for many seasons in winter in Hong Kong since 10 November 1973.

Pat Eddery partnered Dancing Brave to victory in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and became the worldwide retained jockey of the colt's owner, Khalid Abdullah.

Pat Eddery was Champion Jockey a further seven times in eleven years between 1986 and 1996.

Pat Eddery rode several major winners outside Europe including Jupiter Island in the 1986 Japan Cup and Pebbles in the 1985 Breeders' Cup Turf In North America he won the Arlington Million on Tolomeo, the Canadian International Stakes on French Glory and the Breeders' Cup Sprint on Sheikh Albadou.

An active racing ambassador overseas since his early years, Pat Eddery joined forces with Lester Piggott, Joe Mercer and French champion Freddie Head and Yves Saint-Martin in a group of riders to take part in a series of challenge races under the 'Ritz Club Challenge Trophy' at Singapore and other Asian cities starting in 1983 for several years.

Pat Eddery received two Flat Jockey Special Recognition awards in 2002 and 2003.

Pat Eddery retired from the saddle at the end of the 2003 flat season and stated that he had no intention of becoming a trainer.

Pat Eddery sent out his final runner in the week before his death.

One of the twelve living children of Jimmy Eddery and Josephine Moylan, the other four of the five male siblings of Pat Eddery are horse-riders in one way or the other: Michael, Robert, Paul and David.

Pat Eddery married in November 1978 Carolyn, the daughter of flat jockey Manny Mercer, niece of jockey Joe Mercer, and granddaughter of jockey Harry Wragg.

Pat Eddery had another son, Toby Atkinson, who became a jockey.

Pat Eddery died on 10 November 2015, aged 63 at Stoke Mandeville Hospital due to a heart attack, but suffered a long battle with alcoholism.

Pat Eddery's funeral was held on 8 December 2015 and he was cremated at Oxford after the funeral, with his ashes scattered on his family compound according to his last wishes.