Robert Eddery is the least-known brother of an instantly-recognisable family, but he made his own mark with the first winner of his training career at Kempton.
Eddery’s siblings are Paul and the legendary jockey-turned-trainer Pat, for whom he worked before starting out in his own in Newmarket in April.
Operating from Heyward Place Stables on the Hamilton Road with just a handful of horses, Eddery has been calling upon his knowledge from spells with the likes of Charles St George, Karl Burke and Peter Harris.
And it was a horse initially with Pat Eddery, Buddy Holly, who put his name in lights in decisive fashion as a 16-1 chance in the Happy Retirement Robert Watson Handicap.
“It’s great to get the winner but we haven’t done too badly so far as I’ve only run four horses,” Eddery, 50, said.
“You need plenty of support and we’ve only got four older horses and six two-year-olds.
“This horse was trained by Pat, and I worked for him for a year before we had a falling out and went our separate ways.
“We have been a little unlucky – this horse was only beaten a nose at Leicester and has now been disappointing for a while.
“He wins when he wants to.”
Richard Hughes reached 50 winners for the season on an afternoon where it was hard to shake off the back-to-school feeling in the wake of Royal Ascot.
The pencil-thin Irishman was back in action for the first time since that meeting, where he rode three high-profile winners and just lost out to Ryan Moore in the top-jockey standings.
He sits behind only Moore and Paul Hanagan, his narrow conqueror in an epic battle last season, in the 2011 championship, and made the half-century aboard Piranha (13-8) in the British Big Band 22.06.11 Maiden Stakes.
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