Breeders’ Cup : Eddery and Dancing Brave Have Proven to Be a Winning Combination

Put a champion jockey on board a wonderhorse and the chemistry does not always work.

Unless the combination is Pat Eddery and Dancing Brave.

Having won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe earlier this month, the British team is setting its sights on the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita Saturday.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” said Eddery, who won the Breeders’ Cup Turf last year on Pebbles. “It’s a beautiful course and it will be quite an emotional occasion.”

In winning the Arc, Europe’s richest race, in only their second outing, Eddery and Dancing Brave sent the British horseracing world into a whirl of excitement.

The London Times called it the race of a lifetime. Dancing Brave, the paper said, was probably Britain’s best horse ever. Trainer Guy Harwood described the 3-year-old as “priceless.”

The tactical way the race was won -- in a field containing the cream of Europe’s thoroughbreds -- was what prompted the superlatives.

Entering the final straight, Dancing Brave was still some way off the pacemakers as Shahrastani and then the French horse, Bering, forged clear.

But Eddery knew just when to call for speed. Dancing Brave did the rest and won by 1 1/2 lengths in a smashing 2:27.70, a course record for Longchamps.

“It was one of my best moments in racing,” Eddery said. “I had it in my mind to hold the horse up because last time I rode him, I let him go a bit early and he seemed to take things a bit easy in front.

“This time, my plan was to wait and he was simply electrifying.”

Dancing Brave has won eight of his nine starts, placing second in the prestigious Epsom Derby Classic in June. The Breeders’ Cup is his last race before being syndicated to stud. He will stand at Dalham Hall, near Newmarket, and his shares already have been sold for $20.3 million.

Last year, a section of the French crowd booed Eddery when he won the Arc on Rainbow Quest after the home favorite, Sagace, had crossed the line first.

A British protest that Eddery’s horse had been obstructed was upheld, and the first two placings were reversed.

The controversy for a time soured Anglo-French racing relations. But there were only cheers from the spectators as Eddery, who also won the Arc in 1980, entered the winner’s circle for the third time.

“It was a great thrill. I have never experienced such applause,” he said.

After the race, there was no all-night celebration. Eddery, a model professional who often takes part in two separate race meetings a day, flew directly back to England.

He had a few glasses of champagne with his family and was up early the following morning to race in the equally picturesque, but less flamboyant, surroundings of Bath in England’s sleepy southwest.

Eddery, 34, is virtually certain to become Britain’s champion jockey for the fifth time.

While many jockeys rest on Sundays, when the sport is banned in Britain, Eddery races overseas. “I’d rather be riding a horse than sitting at home doing nothing,” he said.

Born in Ireland, one of 12 children, Eddery comes from a racing family. His father, Jimmy, won the Irish Derby, Irish Oaks and Irish 2,000 Guineas.

Eddery’s family came to Britain when he was just 13. Nine years later, he became champion jockey for the first time.

Winner of seven English classic races, including the Epsom Derby twice, he has ridden some great horses -- El Gran Senor, Grundy, Golden Fleece and Pebbles.

But none, he said, have matched Dancing Brave, who increased his winnings to $1.11 million at the Arc.

“He has a wonderful nature, he’s very relaxed, moves well, is very intelligent and has a tremendous burst of speed, as we saw at the Arc,” Eddery said.

Despite winning just about every major prize in flat racing, Eddery has no ambition other than to keep improving. His only hobby outside the race track and his family is maintaining his 100-acre farm.

Prince Khalid Abdulla of Saudi Arabia, for whom he rides, underscored Eddery’s worth as a jockey recently by signing him to a three-year contract worth a reported $2.9 million.

“As far I’m concerned, I’ll carry on into my early 40s,” Eddery said. “I’m riding as well as I ever have, so why quit now?”