Pat Glennon, the Australian jockey who thrilled racegoers with triumphs aboard Sea-Bird II in the 1965 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and Epsom Derby in Europe, died Feb. 15 in Adelaide, South Australia, after a short illness. He was 76.Glennon regularly partnered Native Dancer's grandson with wins in all five of his starts as a 3-year-old in 1965. Sea-Bird II was England's Horse of the Year that season.
Tall for a jockey, Glennon began his career at age 13 and scored the first of his two Melbourne Cup victories in 1950 with Comic Court. He won Australia's leading race again in 1959 with Macdougal.
Glennon was a gifted rider with great hands, balance, and an intuitive feel for speed. He demonstrated it against international jockeys, including Lester Piggott at Morphettville, in 1960, and he later gained a two-year contract to ride for Vincent O'Brien in Ireland.
Glennon later signed with French trainer Etienne Pollet, who prepared Sea-Bird II for owner Jean Ternynck. He retired soon after the French-bred son of Dan Cupid's career sign-off in the Arc.
Glennon remained close to racing, counseling young jockeys. On a race day at Cheltenham racecourse in Adelaide in 2002, he declared to Australia's Inside Racing that Sea-Bird II was the "best horse I have ridden and the best horse I have ever seen."
