Patrick James John Eddery (18 March 1952 – 10 November 2015) was an Irish flat racing jockey and trainer. He rode three winners of the Derby and was Champion Jockey on eleven occasions. He rode the winners of 4,632 British flat races, a figure exceeded only by Sir Gordon Richards. Background Eddery was born in Newbridge, County Kildare, less than 2 miles from the Curragh Racecourse, and his birth was registered in Dublin. He was the fifth child of Jimmy Eddery, a jockey who rode Panaslipper to win the Irish Derby in 1955, and Josephine (the daughter of jockey Jack Moylan). His brother, Paul, also went on to become a jockey. He attended the Patrician Brothers' Primary School in Newbridge and when the family later moved to Blackrock, the Oatlands Primary School in Stillorgan. Riding career Since early childhood, Pat Eddery's most frequent dreams were to be the champion jockey and winning the Derby. Eddery began his career as an apprentice jockey in Ireland with the stable of Seamus McGrath. In 1967 he moved to England where he was apprenticed to Frenchie Nicholson and recorded his first success on Alvaro at Epsom Downs Racecourse on 24 April 1969 after riding more than one whole season without a single winner. The same horse was to give Eddery 6 wins in succession during the 1969 season. While still riding as an apprentice he won the Wokingham Handicap and the Timeform Gold Cup in 1969, the Northumberland Plate in 1970 and the Goodwood Stakes in 1971, a year in which he won the title of Champion Apprentice Jockey. Before formally out of apprenticeship, Eddery won the Ascot Gold Cup in 1972 after the disqualification of Roc Roi. Nicknamed Polyfilla in his early career, Pat was described as a seal in water on horseback in for a long swim. Throughout his riding career he clinched 11 championship titles, two batches coming in four consecutive seasons (1974–1977; 1988–1991). But for his joining the Vincent O'Brien stable in autumn 1980 that took him out of all main Saturday meetings in England, he would certainly have recorded more champion titles, though he did become the Irish Champion in 1982. His last champion title in 1996 was his determination to regain what he had lost when the English racing season switched over in the early 1990s to multi-purpose track racing starting in November, a time when Eddery was