Eddie Harty won the Grand National at Aintree in 1969 riding Highland Wedding – one of the most celebrated victories in the history of the race by an Irish-born jockey – and was a member of the Irish three-day eventing team that finished 6th at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games, unluckily denied the team bronze medal by an Italian organisational failure that led to the disqualification of Harry Freeman-Jackson.

From a distinguished equestrian family – his father Capt. Cyril Harty won the first-ever Irish international show jumping victory and the inaugural Aga Khan Cup in 1928 – Eddie Harty began hunting as a seven-year-old in 1944 and won the open pony jumping championship at the RDS at ten. He had his first steeplechase win at Newton Abbott as a sixteen-year-old in 1953 and in 1960 made the first of nine Grand National rides at Aintree, on Knoxtown.

He and Tony Cameron were the first two civilian riders to represent Ireland in Olympic equestrian sports. His Rome mount Harlequin – purchased on his recommendation by Sir John Galvin – carried a muscular injury into the competition, requiring Harty to ride a modified test and dismount at one stage on the track section to reduce pressure on the horse’s back-muscles.

He finished 11th in the endurance phase and produced a clear show jumping round. His preparation had been enriched by years spent at Sir John Galvin’s California ranch in the late 1950s, where he benefited from tuition by the USA Olympic dressage coaches.

He went on to compete at the Tokyo 1964 Olympics.