Tributes paid to Guineas-winning jockey Eric Eldin following death at age of 88

Tributes from across racing have been paid to Classic-winning jockey Eric Eldin following his death at the age of 88 on Sunday.

Eldin enjoyed his first winner in 1950 and went on to become a leading Flat rider in Britain until his retirement 29 years later. He rode 879 winners domestically and more than 300 more abroad, where he enjoyed success in the Indian and Dutch equivalent of the Derby.

His biggest day in the saddle came when he rode Front Row to victory in the Irish 1,000 Guineas in 1968, while he also rode high-profile horses Lucasland, Lomond and Northern Gem.

After retirement, Eldin trained out of Loder Stables in Newmarket where the biggest of his 155 winners came in the 1981 Molecomb Stakes with Prowess Prince. H1e stopped training ten years later, but continued his links with the sport as a jockey instructor in Singapore and a tour guide in Newmarket.

He also owned horses and became one of the few people to have ridden, trained and owned a winner at Royal Ascot when Grand Unit, whom he owned and trained, won the 1983 Bessborough Handicap.

Racing remained a key part of his family with Lorraine – one of his two daughters along with Michelle – going on to marry Allan Mackay who would ride for him. Eldin's grandsons Jamie and Nicky also had careers as jockeys.

Nicky Mackay, who has ridden 533 winners since starting in 2002, said: "He'd be the first person I'd ring after a ride and go through everything – I'm going to miss that. He was very honest and clued up right up until the last day.

"If you ever messed up or did something wrong he'd tell you, but I'd get excited if I'd ridden a winner as I knew he'd be at home watching. When things got rough he kept you going.

"He was a very well-respected jockey. He's been in the game a long time. Not only was he was a good rider but a better man. He was a proper man's man and a gentleman – he's been a rock in our family. I can't tell you enough what a good man he was. He wasn't just a granddad, he was everything to me and my brother.

Jamie Mackay added: "He'd been helping me ride since I was young and he'd record all mine and Nicky's races. I'd seen the videos of him riding and everybody says he was a very strong jockey. He's always loved his racing, he'd spot something from a mile off."

Prescott: he looked like Joe Mercer in a finish and rode like him

Sir Mark Prescott employed Eldin as stable jockey at Heath House before he moved on to ride for Doug Smith, who at the time had the biggest string in Newmarket. The pair remained close for a number of decades.

He said: "He was always trim, beautifully turned out and a natty dresser. He looked like Joe Mercer in a finish and rode like him, he was normally well-positioned, handy and would go on one-and-a-half out that sort of thing. He was a good horseman.

"He didn't enjoy training as much as he liked riding, he had a very short fuse and the other jockeys were afraid of him! He took great pride in his grandsons but he was tough and professional.

"I always liked Eric, I remember he used to come back from India and he was bronze, tanned and handsome whereas we had the terrible winters. When he became stable jockey for me he was horrified to be sent to Carlisle, Lanark and Bath – he'd never been to those courses as, in those days, jockeys were regional."

William Jarvis, whose father Ryan employed Eldin as an apprentice, added: "Eric was a very well-respected figure in the weighing room and was much better than a journeyman jockey. He went through the hard school of doing National Service before going to India before riding with distinction here in the 1960s and 70s.

"You ask any of those jockeys who rode against him and they always said he was hard to beat in a finish. He was always a dapper man and he always wore a suit and tie to the races as I remember."

Full name Eric Eldin

Born Newland, near Selby, Yorkshire, July 31, 1932

Apprenticed to Ryan Jarvis, Newmarket

First winner Penfair, Leicester, May 2, 1950

Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Front Row (1968)

July Cup & Diadem Stakes winner Lucasland (1966)

Princess of Wales's Stakes winner Lomond (1965, 1966)

Pretty Polly Stakes winner (Curragh) Northern Gem (1974)

Derby winners Rough Deal (1955 Indian Derby), Perseus (1967 Nederlandse Derby)

Triple Pattern winner Derrylin (1977 Horris Hill Stakes (dead-heat), 1978 Ascot 2,000 Guineas Trial, Greenham Stakes)

Other British Pattern winners Miss Paris (1972 Fred Darling Stakes), Stubbs Gazette (1972 Coronation (Brigadier Gerard) Stakes), Long Row (1972 Horris Hill Stakes), Knockroe (1972 St Simon Stakes), My Drifter (1973 Craven Stakes), Welsh Harmony (1973 Horris Hill Stakes), Northern Gem (1974 Fred Darling Stakes), Overtown (1974 Norfolk Stakes), Heaven Knows (1976 Lingfield Oaks Trial), Caporello (1977 Lingfield Derby Trial)

German Pattern winners Record Run (1976 Grosser Hansa-Preis), Tuttlinger (1976 Furstenberg-Rennen)

Big-handicap winners Panjandrum (1962 King George V Handicap), Lucasland (1966 Senior Service Gold Cup), Lomond (1966 Ebor Handicap), Principal Boy (1968 News of the World Handicap), Irish Mail (1969 News of the World Handicap), Knockroe (1973 Weetabix Wildlife Handicap beating Derby course record), Green Belt (1975 Free Handicap)

Placed mount in a British Classic Solstice (3rd, 1965 St Leger)

Last winner as jockey Secateurs, Nottingham, October 1, 1979

Pattern wins as jockey (from 1971) 16 (GB 13, Germany 2, Ireland 1)

Highest position in jockeys' championship 9th in 1966

Most wins in a British season 63 in 1972

Total wins as jockey in Britain 879 (1950-79)

Total wins as jockey world-wide about 1,200

Stables as trainer Loder Stables, Newmarket 1980-91

First winner as trainer Sunny Smile, Lingfield, May 9, 1980

Pattern winner as trainer Prowess Prince (1981 Molecomb Stakes)

Other big-race winners as trainer Grand Unit (1983 Bessborough Handicap), Northern Chimes (1984 Sirenia Stakes)

Last winner as trainer Shining Jewel, Yarmouth, September 17, 1991

Total wins as trainer 155 (154 Flat, 1 jumps)

Compiled by John Randall

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