They call him 'God' in the weighing room. And Pat Eddery's decision to quit riding will leave an almighty gap to fill. | PAT EDDERY'S CAREER Born: 18 March 1952, Dublin First UK winner: Alvao at Epsom in April 1969 First big winner: Sky Rocket in 1969 Wokingham Stakes British Classic winners: 14 First champion jockey title: 1974 Total champion jockey titles: 11 Most winners in a season: 209 (1990) |
Eddery, now aged 51, is the second most successful Flat jockey of all time in the UK behind the legendary Sir Gordon Richards.
He retired at Doncaster on Saturday, having announced the decision to quit four months ago after the end of Royal Ascot - scene of so many triumphs.
The Irish rider was crowned leading jockey at the meeting five times and won all of the festival's Group One races at least once.
Eddery enjoyed the first big win of his career there when he partnered Sky Rocket to victory in the Wokingham Stakes in 1969.
Thirty-three years later, his 73rd Royal Ascot success came on Romantic Liason in the Queen Mary Stakes - that win also meant he moved level with Lester Piggott on 4,493 career wins.
Later that week, he went clear of Piggott and was finally able to step out of the Long Fellow's shadow which had engulfed him for much of his career.
Like most jockeys, Eddery is no stranger to the stewards' room and to injury - a career-threatening back injury sidelining him for six months in 1997. But he has kept going through the years, fuelled by a determination to succeed which he possibly inherited from his father Jimmy, himself an Irish champion jockey.
Eddery junior, the sixth of 12 children, began riding at the age of eight and was apprenticed to Seamus McGrath.
He moved over to England to join Frenchie Nicholson in 1967 but it took 70 rides before his first winner - after that, however, the victories came thick and fast and he was champion apprentice in 1971.
| EDDERY'S BIG-RACE WINS Epsom Derby: 3 Epsom Oaks: 3 2,000 Guineas: 3 1,000 Guineas: 1 St Leger: 4 Irish Classics: 10 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe: 4 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth: 2 Breeders' Cup: 2 |
In his early days, Eddery earned the nickname 'Polyfilla Pat' because of his desire to go through every little gap in the chase for winners.
He joined Peter Walwyn's powerful stable in 1973 and the following year was champion jockey for the first time.
His even-tempered consistency and quiet determination to get the best out of a horse has earned him 11 champion jockey titles in all, a record he shares with Piggott.
He has ridden some of the sport's most famous horses, the likes of El Gran Senor, Sadler's Wells, Golden Fleece and Dancing Brave, whom he rode to victory in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes and the Arc in 1986.
Eddery has also enjoyed success on the other side of the Atlantic with Breeders' Cup wins on Pebbles in the Turf and Sheikh Albadou in the Sprint and Arlington Million success on Tolomeo.
After being retained to some of the biggest owners in racing, including Robert Sangster and Khalid Abdullah, Eddery went freelance in 1995.
He still managed to pick up plenty of good winners, landing his 4,000th British victory on Silver Patriach in the 1997 St Leger.
And he has ridden 100 winners in a season every year from 1973 to 2001, except in 1982 when he topped the table in Ireland and 2002, when he finished on an agonising 99.
In his last season, Eddery has demonstrated lasting appeal - landing an emotional Group One victory at Glorious Goodwood on Reel Buddy and winning the Cesarewitch for the first time with Landing Light.
Low-key and undemonstrative off the track, Eddery has never been one to blow his own trumpet - but his record speaks for itself.
MMIX
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I'm happy riding but I can't go on forever 
