Eddery is close to record

13 April 2012

Pet Eddery is poised to reach another milestone in his highly successful riding career as he prepares to pass Lester Piggott's career total of 4,493 winners.

He needs just two more successes to equal the record and could well do it at Windsor tonight, where he has four mounts - Thumper (6.40), Caronte (7.05), Among Friends (7.35), and Lively Lady (8.05).

The former champion jockey said: "I've got some cracking rides at Royal Ascot and if I don't do it at Windsor, hopefully I will get to Lester's total there."

Eddery is currently a 40-1 outsider to end up top rider at the Royal meeting. A long shot, but not a silly bet, as the 50-year-old has ridden 72 winners over the years at the showcase spectaculr.

He has some top rides at the venue, too, and here are a few of them over the five days: Indian Prince (King's Stand, tomorrow), Romantic Liaison (Queen Mary, Wednesday), Night Speed (Norfolk, Thursday), Lord of the Inn (Windsor Castle, Friday), and Milenary (Hardwicke, Saturday),

Going back, picture the scene. The old weighing room at Epsom in 1969. One and a half miles in front of them, and for several, the biggest race of their lives. No, it wasn't the stomach churning calm before the Derby, just a mundane apprentice race at the Spring meeting. You could have called them a fairly representative cross-section of claimers at the time.

Several would have made a good testing bed for Clearasil and there were enough ' butterflies' around to stock a fair-sized lepidoptery. One of the most experienced of the boys was taking it in his stride, however, and was to eventually ride 13 winners. Alan Errington, then 20, knew the ropes. His filly wasn't particularly fancied, but he and she got on like a house on fire. He recalls: "I was going terribly easily and came up behind a line of three. At the two furlong pole I thought I could take them any time I wanted to. But suddenly, the middle one of the three shot clear and was gone. I had never seen the boy who rode the winner before and I had to settle for second, beaten three lengths."

The 'boy' was Patrick James Eddery, born March 18, 1952, at Newbridge, Galway, in Ireland. The horse was Alvaro, trained by Major Michael Pope. The son of James Eddery, top Emerald Isle jockey who won the 1955 Irish Derby and was runner-up in the English equivalent on the same horse, Panaslipper. Pat was to become Champion Apprentice in 1971 and then the youngest Champion Jockey for 50 years in 1974.

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Eddery is close to record

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