The first Indian Derby was run on 30 January 1943 and won by Princess Beautiful (Short Hand - Roibelle by Sheridan). She was owned by H.H. The Maharaja Pratapsinh Gaekwar of Baroda, trained by M.C. Patel and ridden by Edgar Britt. Though there were just three Classics in the inaugural year, the Renala Stud-bred filly won all three of them for the same connections and thus registered a unique clean sweep. 72 years on, only her jockey remains while all others connected with her have departed without leaving an enduring legacy.

Edgar Britt was born 30 October 1913 at Oatley, a  south Sydney suburb. At a very early age, he decided that he wanted to become a jockey and his family was supportive, buying him a horse that he could ride.  When he was  13, his father took him to trainer Mick Polson who had his training establishment at  Moorefield. Since Britt's family lived close by, he was initially permitted to stay at home but a year later, Polson moved to Randwick and young Edgar had to leave home. He got his license after two year's of apprenticeship and his first public ride was on Tea Miss at Warwick Farm. The filly finished second to the favourite Black Douglas. In January 1930, Britt rode his first winner, a horse called Gypsy King, in an eleven-furlong handicap at Canterbury. Over the next two years, he was regularly in the winner's circle and racing people had begun to take a note of him as a reliable and promising light-weight. The best of the races that he won during that period was probably AJC Doncaster Handicap on a horse called Winooka who broke the Australian record for a mile.

Mick Polson took Winooka to U.S.A. and Britt also went along. Winooka won his first race on the West Coast but lost his next three and Aussie party was in dire straits. A huge gamble was pulled off on Trevallion who had accompanied Winooka and Winooka himself redeemed some of his reputation after moving east. The horses were left in U.S.A. while Polson and Britt returned to Australia. Winning the Sydney Cup on Broad Arrow in 1934 was the high point of Britt's Australian career but then the winners dried up on the city tracks and the jockey had to travel to lesser 'bush' meetings to get winning mounts. He had married in the meantime and the going was tough for the young couple.

Out of the blue, he received an offer from Alec Higgins to come to India which he accepted with alacrity. Higgins had Jim Munro and "Plugger" Scanlon riding for him but they couldn't do low weights. Thus did Britt arrive in India in time for the Pune season of 1935 and was an instant hit, his 13 winners enabling him to win the jockeys' championship. Alec Higgins had his base in Calcutta and Britt went there when the Pune season ended. He didn't quite like Calcutta and so transferred to Alec's brother Roy Higgins who was training in Mumbai. He had a few winners, including one on his first ride at Mahalakshmi but most importantly, he was offered a retainer by Maharaja of Kolhapur for the Pune season. He rode for the Kolhapur stable for two years and then had two years with the Maharaja of Kashmir before linking up with the Maharaja of Baroda.

For eight consecutive years - from 1937-38 to 1944-45 - he was the Champion Jockey at Mumbai though he was tied at the top of the table in 1941-42 with fellow Aussie W.T. Evans. He was also the Champion Jockey at Pune four times. His feat of riding 43 winners in the 1939-40 season at Mumbai constituted a record which was only broken in the mid-1970s by Vasant Shinde. Apart from being the jockey to ride the first winner of a Classic in India as well as the first Indian Derby, he also rode four winners of the Eclipse Stakes of India - Why for Maj. A. Swamvur, Steel Helmet for Kashmir and Baroda's Golden Fawn who won in two consecutive years. That record has been equalled by Jagdish and Aslam Kader subsequently but not bettered. In all, in his ten year stint in India, Britt rode about 425 winners.

When the Second World War ended in 1945, the Maharaja of Baroda set out to conquer the English turf and Britt accompanied him to England. For Baroda, he rode Sayajirao to a St. Leger triumph, the horse having earlier won the Irish Derby. Britt's long association with Baroda ended when he was replaced by Charlie Smirke but he continued to ride in England and was astride the Classic winners Black Tarquin (St. Leger), Musidora (One Thousand Guineas and Oaks), Honeylight (Oaks), Frieze (Oaks) and Nearula (Two Thousand Guineas). The Derby was the only English Classic which eluded him. When the royal jockey Harry Carr broke a leg, Britt was seen astride the horses owned by King George VI for whom he rode Angelola to a victory in Yorkshire Oaks.

After riding over 2000 winners, Edgar Britt retired in 1959 and returned to Australia. In a career of 30 years, his suspensions totaled less than a month. He had already acquired an interest in Melton Stud in Victoria along with jockey R.H. Jones who was his friend from his India days. For some years, he was actively involved with racing as a journalist and radio commentator. He was inducted into the National Hall of Fame for his services to the sport and the Australian Jockey Club honoured him with a special luncheon on his 100th birthday at the Randwick race course  .He was twice widowed. He attended racing on big days at Randwick and always made it a point to visit the jockeys' room. He now resides at Avon Beach in North Sydney and is a familiar figure to the residents of that suburb, doing his morning walk, a dapper little figure with his trilby at a jaunty angle.

Edgar Britt's autobiography "Post Haste" is very readable, not the least because he devotes many pages to racing in India, unlike some other jockeys who merely give it a passing mention. He comes across as an assuming, likeable person and tells a good tale adorned with interesting anecdotes. The highlights, though, are his observations on jockeys and jockeyship, riding styles and race tactics. Britt held the Australian jockey Jim Pike in great awe and admiration and there is a passage about him in his book which is particularly illuminating:-

 " Pike was on a natural front runner and his mount led clearly but over the last fifty yards tired and challengers came so quickly that I was sure he would not even run a place. But Pike was a master at nursing a tiring horse in the last furlong of a race, and there he sat, quiet as a mouse, a rider of perfect balance, holding his horse together until the very last stride when he seemed literally to lift it past the post to win by a head. Had Pike sat down to ride his horse vigorously it almost certainly would have started to sprawl and weaken right out of the race. His artistry on such occasions often misled race-goers and occasionally I heard them claim that had he given his horse its head it would have won by lengths. In most cases, his mount would not have done one ounce better, and very often would not have won at all had he let its head go."

How little do we know of what really happens in a race and are ready to pillory a jockey when he loses !

PAST THE POST

MANY HAPPY RETURNS, EDGAR.