Classic-Winning Jockey Eric Eldin Dies at 89

Eric Eldin, who has died at the age of 89, was a Classic-winning jockey from the same generation as Lester Piggott, and won about 1,200 races during his 30-year career in the saddle. A long-term resident of Newmarket, he was most closely associated with trainer Ryan Jarvis (father of William Jarvis), for whom he landed the Irish One Thousand Guineas on Front Row, and his winners also included Lomond in the Ebor and Lucasland in the July Cup. He then trained with some success for 12 years. Eldin was born at Newland, near Selby, Yorkshire, on July 31, 1932, the son of an agricultural laborer. At the age of 14 he was apprenticed to Ryan Jarvis in Newmarket and rode his first winner, Penfair, at Leicester in May 1950. He won 11 races in 1951, spent the next six years in India, winning the local Derby on Rough Deal, and on his return in 1958 was able to hold his own against the top jockeys. He scored his only placing in a British Classic when third on Solstice in the 1965 St. Leger, and notable victories on Lomond and Lucasland in 1966 contributed to his highest position of ninth in the jockeys' table. Lomond, the best horse he ever rode, reached his peak at the age of six by winning the Princess of Wales's Stakes for the second consecutive time and gamely defying top weight by a short head in the Ebor, with Eldin just getting the better of a battle royal with Lester Piggott. Lucasland won the most valuable sprint of the year, the Senior Service Gold Cup Handicap at York. She then landed the July Cup and Diadem Stakes, and came second to champion sprinter Caterina in the Nunthorpe. The jockey enjoyed his best season numerically with 63 wins in 1972, including the St. Simon Stakes on the talented but frustrating Knockroe. Trained by Peter Nelson, that grey gelding then consistently refused to exert himself. He also disliked the company of other horses, but Eldin produced the most memorable ride of his career when persuading him to win the Weetabix Wildlife Handicap at Epsom in June 1973. On his best behavior, Knockroe was brought to challenge on the wide outside in the straight and scored easily under top weight, beating the record time for Epsom's mile and a half set by Mahmoud in the 1936 Derby. Eldin had a spell as first jockey to Jack Waugh, the pair teaming up with Lucasland and big-handicap winners Panjandrum and Irish Mail. He also rode some of the early winners sent out by Waugh's successor at Heath House, Sir Mark Prescott. He was then stable jockey for three years to Doug Smith, riding Northern Gem to win the Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh in 1974 and come second in the Irish One Thousand Guineas and the Champion Stakes. The pair's other Pattern winners together included Derrylin (three times), Stubbs Gazette and Welsh Harmony. As well as Jarvis, Waugh and Smith, the Newmarket trainers for whom he rode notable winners were Gavin Pritchard-Gordon (Record Run, Caporello), Jack Clayton and Harry Wragg. Eldin retired from the saddle at the end of 1979, having ridden the winners of 879 races in Britain and more than 300 abroad, mostly in India but also in various countries in Europe and elsewhere. He set up as a trainer at Loder Stables in Newmarket, and his biggest winners were Prowess Prince (1981 Molecomb Stakes, G3) and Grand Unit (1983 Bessborough Handicap). Eldin retired from training in 1991 and then became an instructor at the jockey apprentice school in Singapore for six years. On his return became a tour guide in Newmarket, showing visitors round the town, the museum, the gallops and the racecourse. Eric Eldin and his wife Margaret married in 1958 and had two daughters, Lorraine and Michelle. Lorraine married Allan Mackay, who rode some of his winners as a trainer, notably Grand Unit at Royal Ascot. He followed with pride the riding careers of his grandsons Jamie and Nicky Mackay.