Lester Piggott: Record-breaking jockey with ruthless will to win
- Published
Lester Piggott won the Derby at Epsom a record nine times
From his first victory aged 12 to his last nearly 50 years later, jockey Lester Piggott was a ruthless winner who became a racing icon.
Tall for a rider in flat racing, he spent much of his career on a punishing diet to keep his weight down but had an insatiable appetite for finishing first.
Affectionately nicknamed the Long Fellow and regarded as one of the all-time great jockeys, it was not just the 4,493 victories which marked him out.
The partially-deaf rider had a quiet charisma of his own, a fierce determination and a life story which took in prison and one of sport's most remarkable comebacks.
Lester Piggott pictured in 1948, the year of his first winner
Piggott was an angelic-looking schoolboy when he rode his first winner, The Chase, at Haydock in 1948, weighing less than five stone and standing only 4ft 6in tall.
He grew to nearly 5ft 8in and by the time of his last victory - aged 58 on Palacegate Jack at the same course in 1994 - his stony expression had been likened to "a well-kept grave" by racing writer Jack Leach.
In between, Pigott had rewritten the record books. From boy wonder to the so-called Housewives' Choice, when women who supposedly knew nothing about racing would have a flutter on Lester in big races.
He won the Derby for the first time aged 18 in 1954 on Never Say Die, but was suspended for the rest of the season for reckless riding after partnering him at Royal Ascot.
Piggott was champion jockey 11 times between 1960 and 1982 in an era where rivals included talented riders like Willie Carson and Pat Eddery.
He won a total of 116 races at the Royal Ascot meeting and triumphed a record 30 times in the British Classics, including an unprecedented nine wins in the Derby at Epsom.
"I've managed to win two Derbys and Lester won nine, which is beyond anyone's imagination," said jockey Frankie Dettori when Piggott was inducted into British racing's hall of fame.
"Looking back at the footage of Lester ride, he was 20 years ahead of his time, like Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan.
"He was ruthless. He had such a will to win, he had balance, he had everything. He is the greatest."
Piggott pioneered a riding style where he perched high above the saddle
Piggott was employed by distinguished trainers such as Noel Murless, Vincent O'Brien and Sir Henry Cecil.
Among the equine greats he rode was Nijinsky, the last horse to win the British Triple Crown - comprising the 2000 Guineas, Derby and St Leger - in 1970.
His Derby winners included Crepello, Sir Ivor and The Minstrel while his 1972 triumph was remembered for his use of the whip which encouraged Roberto to victory over Rheingold.
Piggott was the go-to man and would not hesitate in replacing other riders who were "jocked off" in favour of him.
Asked about the advantages of employing Piggott, O'Brien replied: "It means he isn't riding against you."
On one occasion in France, he even snatched the whip off another jockey during a race at Deauville after dropping his own.
His resilience was demonstrated by an incident a week before the 1,000 Guineas in 1981 when he was dragged under the front gates of the Epsom starting stalls by a horse.
"My right ear was practically severed," he recalled,, external "and it took 32 stitches to keep it in place. Worse, I'd pulled all the ligaments in my back."
Yet he returned in time for the big race and won by a neck on Fairy Footsteps, with his pithy summary: "That eased the discomfort."
Piggott's parsimony, which ultimately led to a prison sentence for tax evasion, was the stuff of legend.
Associates would recount the story of a jockeys' valet who whispered in his ear: "Lester, can you lend me five pounds?" Piggott indicated he could not hear, so he whispered in his other ear: "Can you lend me 10 pounds?" to which the jockey replied: "Try the five-pound ear again."
He was jailed for three years in 1987 after being found guilty of a tax fraud of more than £3m. With time off for good behaviour, he served a year and a day in prison.
His friend, the BBC racing commentator Sir Peter O'Sullevan, said his spell in jail was like "imprisoning a wild bird in a cage", external and called for his OBE to be returned after being withdrawn following the scandal.
However, he reported the Queen rebuffed the approach, saying: "Lester has been very, very naughty."
Piggott pictured with a copy of the Sporting Life newspaper in Highpoint Open Prison in 1988
Piggott was formerly based in Newmarket but had lived in Switzerland in recent years where he was admitted to intensive care in 2007 with a heart problem, but made a swift recovery.
During his career, Piggott maintained his slim frame with a diet heavy on champagne and cigars plus regular visits to the sauna.
"He's in good shape considering he's been abusing his body since he was 16," said daughter Maureen, wife of leading trainer William Haggas, after another hospital spell in 2018.
Interviewing him was compared to pulling teeth but he would warm up when asked about one of his greatest rides - which featured in a Sunday Times list of the '50 great sporting moments of the 20th Century'.
After a stalled training career and prison, he made a triumphant return to the saddle in 1990 at the age of 54.
Just 12 days out of his second retirement, Piggott guided Royal Academy, trained by O'Brien, to victory in one of the world's richest races - the $1m Breeders' Cup Mile.
"It was Vincent O'Brien. He made the suggestion really. I wasn't thinking about it. He said 'why not come back?' and I did," he told BBC Sport in 2015.
"It was exceptional really. It was like a fairy story and they don't often happen."
Like Piggott's life, it was a tale with few equals.