Pat Eddery memorabilia including Arc trophy fetches £74,000 at unique Newmarket auction

Pat Eddery's trophy for winning the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe on Dancing Brave yielded more than double the estimate at an auction of racing memorabilia in Newmarket.

The trophy, marking Eddery's victory at Longchamp in 1986, went for £12,400 having been expected to fetch between £3,000 and £5,000.

A collection of Eddery memorabilia made £74,000, including the cap for winning the St Leger on Silver Patriarch in 1997, which sold for £4,200 having had an original estimate of between £1,000-£1.500.

Staged by Graham Budd Auctions and Weatherbys, the sale of items connected with legendary jockeys Lester Piggott, Fred Archer and Eddery was fittingly staged at the National Horse Racing Museum in Newmarket, near where Archer was married at All Saints Church in 1883.

The trophy marking Pat Eddery's Arc victory at Longchamp in 1986 went for £12,400Credit: Graham Budd

The many Lester Piggott lots sold included a signed work helmet and goggles, which went for £5,200.

Rosa Corder's rare oil-on-canvas 1883 portrait of Fred Archer went for £13,000, while a Charles Walter Simpson painting of Golden Miller winning the Grand National from Delagne in 1934 made £6,200.

One of the buyers at the sale was Newmarket trainer Sir Mark Prescott, who said: "I picked up a few Fred Archer bits as he had strong connections to Heath House, but the Piggott scrapbooks were fascinating. To see pictures of him riding upsides Sir Gordon Richards at just 12 was amazing. I hope they went to a good home."

Graham Budd, chairman of Graham Budd Auctions, said: "It has been an honour to have memorabilia from three of the all-time greatest jockeys come through Graham Budd Auctions. These collections have been an outstanding testament to the field of horseracing."

Read these next:

Lester Piggott's passport and Pat Eddery's Arc prize among rare lots on offer in unique racing auction 

Brian Toomey's astonishing story takes new twist as jockey who cheated death gains trainer's licence 

Hollie Doyle set to appeal against seven-day Kempton ban that could rule her out of the Breeders' Cup 

The jumps season is coming! Pick up your copy of The Big Jump Off, packed with everything you need for the 2023-24 National Hunt season. Free in the Racing Post on Monday, October 23, 2023, it's got 72 pages of unbeatable content including ante-post tips, guest columnists, top trainer profiles, divisional analysis and much more. You can pre-order your copy from the Racing Post shop here.