Born on March 18, 1952 in Newbridge, County Kildare, Patrick ‘Pat’ Eddery rode 4,632 winners on British soil, more than any other Flat jockey bar Sir Gordon Richards, who rode 4,870. Originally apprenticed to Seamus McGrath in County Dublin, in 1967 he crossed the Irish Sea to join Herbert ‘Frenchie’ Nicholson in Cheltenham, Gloucester and, after a slow start, rode his first winner on British soil, Alvaro, trained by Michael Pope, at Epsom on April 24, 1969.
Eddery was champion apprentice in 1971 and, the following year, became stable jockey to Peter Walwyn at Seven Barrows, Lambourn, Berkshire, for whom he would win his first two British Classics, the Oaks on Polygamy in 1974 and the Derby with Grundy in 1975. He also won the Flat Jockeys’ Championship four years running between 1974 and 1977. Eddery would become champion jockey seven more times, in 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, and 1996. His most successful season, numerically, came in 1990, when he rode 209 winners, making him the first jockey reach a double-century since the aforementioned Sir Gordon Richards rode 231 winners in 1952.
After eight years with Walwyn, Eddery became stable jockey to the original Master of Ballydoyle, Vincent O’Brien, for whom he won the Derby on Golden Fleece in 1982 and back-to-back renewals on the 2,000 Guineas on Lomond in 1983 and El Grand Senor in 1984, among other high-profile winners. Overseas, he won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe four times, on Detroit (1980), Rainbow Quest (1985), Dancing Brave (1986) and Trempolino (1987). In 1987, Eddery became retained jockey to Khalid Abdullah, the owner of Rainbow Quest and Dancing Brave, an association that would yield two more British Classic winners, Quest For Fame in the Derby in 1990 and Zafonic in the 2,000 Guineas in 1993.