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Australian Edgar Clive Britt was born at Oatley (some sources give this as Five Dock), near Sydney, on October 30, 1913, and became apprenticed to Michael Polson at Randwick. The son of an electrical engineer, Edgar rode his first winner on Gypsy King at Canterbury, on the outskirts of Sydney, in January , 1930. In 1933, he tried his luck in America and won the Baltimore Handicap on Winooka.
In 1935, he went to India and rode for the Maharajah of Baroda for ten years, for whom he rode Golden Fawn to victory the the Eclipse Stakes of 1942 and 1943. It was in India that he first met up with jockey W.H.Carr, and the two became firm friends.
Edgar came to England in April 1945. Still riding for the Maharajah, he rode his first British winner on Maharaj Kumar, trained by F.Armstrong, at Stockton on 19 May.
Other big races won included the Cesarewitch on Kerry Piper and a substitute Manchester November Handicap at Pontefract on Oatflake.
His winning total for 1945 was 20, from 107 rides. This increased the following season to 92, putting him in fourth place behind Gordon Richards in the jockeys' table.
1947 proved a good year. He won the Irish Derby, the St Leger, the Nell Gwyn, the Champagne Stakes and he dead-heated in the New Stakes. For good measure, he came third in both the Derby and the 2,000 Guineas on Sayajirao.
In 1948, he was replaced by Charlie Smirke as the Maharajah's jockey. Edgar switched stables and rode as first jockey to Marcus Marsh. When his friend W.H.Carr broke his leg in the summer of that year, Edgar replaced him on many of Captain Boyd-Rochfort's runners, winning the Yorkshire Oaks on Angelola for King George Vl and the a second St Leger on Black Tarquin. Also, that year, he won another Cesarewitch on Woodburn, for Captain Charles Elsey.
1949 saw Edgar winning the 1,000 Guineas and the Oaks on Musidora. Further classic successes awaited.(left) Edgar at 19
He rode 1,182 winners before retiring in 1959 and returning to Australia a year later.
He published his autobiography 'Post Haste' in 1967. He lived in Surfside Avenue, Avalon and his home, a 1,092 square metre cul-de-sac property, was called Honeylight after his 1956 1,000 Guineas winner. It was a four-bedroomed house, with views across the beach to the headland.
In March, 2010, Edgar decided to downsize. His home, plus 80 years of memorabilia, were put up for auction. He said at the time: "I'm 96. Not the best time of your life, but it's better than the alternative."
On 10 June, 2004, Edgar was awarded the Order of Australia medal for service to horse racing. In the same year, he was inducted into the Australian Hall of Fame.
Edgar Britt met The Queen, then a princess, and her sister, Princess Margaret, many times as he saddled up in the late 1940s to boot home the King's mount.
"Sometimes the princesses would be out riding on the track at Ascot," he recalled. "They loved horses. Elizabeth and Margaret were sometimes in the enclosure on race day. She knows horses.
"On one occasion, at a course near Hampton Court, Elizabeth and Margaret came to see me before a race and said: 'Do you think you will win?'. I said, 'I think so, but she is a pretty temperamental filly. I might have to hit her with the whip.
"There was silence from both of them, and I thought I had said the wrong thing. The Royals don't go in for beating animals with whips.
"Then the call came for the jockeys to get mounted and they said they would go. As they left, Princess Margaret said, 'If she needs one, give her one'.
"I went out and won with plenty to spare, and I did not have to hit the filly once."
Edgar Britt's classic winners:
2,000 Guineas: Nearula (1953)
1,000 Guineas Musidora (1949) and Honeylight (1956)
The Oaks: Musidora (1949) and Frieze (1952)
St Leger: Sayajirao (1947) and Black Tarquin (1948)
Other big races won include:
1945: Cesarewitch - Kerry Piper
1945: Manchester November Handicap - Oatflake
1946: Ebor Handicap - Foxtrot
1946: Winston Churchill Stakes - Preciptic
1947: Irish Derby - Sayajirao
1948: Cesarewitch - Woodburn
1949: Ayr Gold Cup - Irish Dance
1950: Stewards' Cup - First Council
1951: Northumberland Plate - Sycamore II
1953: Champion Stakes - Nearula
1953: Portland - Reminiscence
1954: Chester Cup - Peperium
1957: Goodwood Cup - Tenterhooks
1958: Lincoln - Babur
In 1947, he rode the two-year-old Lerins (later renamed My Babu). After having finished fourth first time out at Epsom, Lerins won its next race - the Norfolk Stakes at Newmarket. On his remaining four appearances as a two-year-old, Lerins won the Woodcote Stakes at Epsom, dead-heated for the New Stakes at Royal Ascot, won the Neil Gwynne Stakes at Epsom and the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster, ridden by Edgar on each occasion.
In his prime, Edgar stood four feet eleven inches tall and weighed five stone.
He died on January 29, 2017, aged 103.
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