Pat Eddery swapped his racing saddle for the Editor’s chair at Horse & Hound last week to guest edit the magazine’s popular stallion number, which hits the newsagents’ shelves tomorrow (8 January).
The 11-times champion flat jockey commissioned several features as well as selecting pictures and writing his own article on the new stallion Oasis Dream, standing at Banstead Manor Stud.
Other features in this issue include a focus on Pat’s former ride Reel Buddy at stud in Shropshire, while Alan Lee visits another of Pat’s success stories, Dancing Brave.
Pat says: “I was thrilled to be asked to be Guest Editor. It seems no one can remember anyone ever filling this role before, never mind an ex-jockey, so it was with some trepidation that I agreed to step into Lucy Higginson’s shoes.
“One of the pleasures of being Editor has been not only coming up with ideas for features but choosing writers to do the features justice. I would like to extend a big thank you to the H&H team, which made being Editor so enjoyable.”
Pat only retired from the saddle in November after a racing career spanning more than 35 years. In that time he has ridden an incredible 4,632 winners in the UK — more than 6,000 including his foreign races — and he has ridden more winners in Britain than any other jockey except the late Sir Gordon Richards.
Pat’s name appears on the winners’ lists for the English, French and Irish Derbies, Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, 2000 Guineas, Breeders’ Cup Mile, Coronation Cup, King George V1 and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Hong Kong Derby.
Pat has recently set up his own racing syndicates business, Pat Eddery Racing, which he describes as his “retirement project”.
