Pat Eddery, champion Flat jockey 11 times and the winner of 14 British Classics, has died at the age of 63. Eddery was one of the most successful riders of all time and partnered more than 4 600 winners. He also won four Arcs and was aboard Dancing Brave for his breath-taking triumph in 1986.

His CV is punctuated with many of the world’s other great races including a brace of Gold Cups, two King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and he was also champion jockey in Ireland in 1982, 27 years after his father Jimmy had won the title for the second time.

As well as Dancing Brave, he was associated with some of the best racehorses of the late 20th century, among them Bosra Sham, Sadler’s Wells, Rainbow Quest, El Gran Senor, Grundy, Zafonic, Warning and Pebbles, whom Eddery won the Breeders’ Cup Turf on in 1985. Only Sir Gordon Richards has ridden more winners than him in Britain.

Eddery retired in 2003 and began training, sending out his first runner in 2005. It would have been almost impossible for him to match his achievements in the saddle, but he did enjoy a Group 1 victory when Hearts Of Fire won Italy’s Gran Criterium in 2009.

Eddery and Michael Roberts became very good friends over the years. “We travelled together a lot – to Japan, Breeders’ Cup, all over so I got to know him well,” he said yesterday. “He became a very good friend. His passing is so sad.

“He was tough jockey and a great horseman. He had one of the best pair of hands ever. He also had a unique style and to watch him ride was like watching poetry in motion.”

Robert Edmondson, Eddery’s close friend and former weighing room colleague, said on Tuesday morning: “He was one of the greats – without doubt.

“He was a wonderful rider and loved horses. He was a natural and wanted to win more than anything.”

Steve Drowne, Joint President of the Professional Jockey’s Association, said: “Pat was a truly great jockey in every way. He was the man we all aspired to be in the saddle. Everyone looked up to him in the weighing room. Just a great person to be around. A Professional’s Professional.”

By Andrew Harrison 

Jockeys John Egan, Eddie Ahern, Frankie Dettori and Franny Norton lift Eddery after his final race (aboard Gamut in the CIU Selby Stakes Race run at Doncaster on November 8, 2003).

Photograph: Andy Watts/Racingphotos/Rex Shutterstock

Visit http://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2015/nov/10/pat-eddery-a-life-in-pictures for the full slide show.