Jimmy Eddery

James (Jimmy) Eddery was born in Doneraile, Co. Cork on July 25, 1922 and was the most successful of several jockey brothers.

Having gone to England to serve his apprenticeship with Atty Persse at Stockbridge, in Hampshire, he returned to Ireland at the outbreak of World War Two and was immediately successful, notably for owner-trainer Fred Myerscough.

He hit the headlines in 1944 when dead-heating in both the Irish Two Thousand Guineas on Good Morning and the Irish Cambridgeshire on Dawros. The following year he scored his first outright classic success when winning the Irish Two Thousand Guineas on Stalino.

His success in Ireland brought him to the attention of the authorities in England, who regarded his abrupt departure form war-ravaged England as misplaced patriotism. Eventually, that particular difficulty was resolved and in 1946 he succeeded Morny Wing as first jockey to the powerful Seamus McGrath stable at Glencairn, near Sandyford, Co. Dublin.

Jimmy Eddery rode his winners by force rather than persuasion. His rough-riding tactics and over-use of the whip were both a bad example to young riders and a poor advertisement for the stable that retained him. Aubrey Brabazon, in his autobiography ‘Racing Through My Mind’, wrote: “Jimmy was a terrible butcher on horse-back and I am certainly not alone in stating that he ruined a lot of good McGrath horses over the years. He wouldn’t survive too long if he was riding today with the new whip rules.”

The best colt he rode during his career was Panaslipper, on whom he finished runner-up to Phil Drake in the 1955 Epsom Derby and then gained a measure of compensation by winning the Irish Derby, defeating the evens favourite Hugh Lupus (ridden by Rae Johnstone), who had been a last-minute withdrawal at Epsom, with Ann’s Kuda, the mount of Aubrey Brabazon, back in third. Panaslipper was owned and bred by Joe McGrath and trained by his son Seamus. Brabazon recalls of that race: “I took up the running at half way and was till in front with Raeon my inside at the furlong marker when Jimmy Eddery challenged on my outside and proceeded to mow us both down … Ann’s Kida was almost knocked over and I in turn unavoidably did no favours to Hugh Lupus on my inner. Jimmy, not looking back at the mayhem he was leaving in his wake, drove Panaslipper on to win by two lengths from Hugh Lupus, with Ann’s Kuda a further two lengths back.

“Under present circumstances,” Brabazon concluded, “I have no doubt that Panaslipper would have been disqualified, but back then there were no cameras to replay the incident, so we just had to accept the result. An objection might have been considered, but it didn’t help that Panaslipper was owned by Joe McGrath, a man whose power in Irish racing was of almost divine proportions. It would have been unthinkable for the stewards to deprive him of a Derby winner.”

In 1957 Jimmy rode the McGraths’ colt Chevastrid to win the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, beating the Harry Carr-ridden Tempest by a head.

The best filly Jimmy rode was Silken Glider, on whom he won the 1957 Irish Oaks and was beaten a short head by Lester Piggott on the Queen’s filly Carrozza in the Oaks at Epsom.

Again, Brabazon recalls that Eddery gave his filly an “unmerciful hiding” in the closing stages.

Jimmy retired from the saddle in 1959 but remained with McGrath’s Glencairn stable as assistant trainer, in company with his brother Connie, a former hurdle race jockey, who was then the travelling head lad.

Against his employers’ advice, Jimmy went into the licensed trade in Kildare, with unfortunate results. Having gone back to England and a life with horses, Jimmy had the satisfaction of seeing his son Pat succeed where he had narrowly failed in the Epsom Derby, which the first-ever Irish-born British champion Flat jockey won on Grundy, going on to win it twice more.

At least four of Jimmy’s sons – Patrick, Paul, Michael and David – became jockeys.

Jimmy Eddery died on August 26, 1988, aged 66. He was buried in Newmarket Town Cemetery.