The racing world was mourning the death of Lester Piggott at 86 on Sunday but as a final act in an incredible life it was entirely appropriate that the iconic jockey died in Derby week.
Piggott’s statue looks out over Epsom Downs, where the 20th century’s most iconic racing figure dominated with a record nine Derby wins.
Fifty years ago, whichever horse Piggott was on in the Classic would inevitably be the week’s top story. If by now Lester had not secured a mount, every jockey on a fancied horse would be looking over their shoulder, fearful he would be persuading owners and trainers that they had a better chance with him on board.
Lester Piggott, arguably the 20th century’s most iconic racing figure, has died at age of 86
Piggott died peacefully in hospital in Switzerland, where he had lived with partner Barbara since 2012. More than 25 years after his retirement, he was still known universally by his Christian name, the sort of recognition reserved for a special few in sport — Ayrton, Seve, Tiger.
Sir Gordon Richards may have been champion jockey more times — 26 as opposed to 11 — but Piggott’s obsession with winning and a dramatic life meant he figuratively galloped into front rooms across the land. His name is mentioned in songs by James Morrison, Chas & Dave, and Van Morrison and he had his own puppet on the satirical show Spitting Image.
Introverted, mischievous, miserly, ruthless, shy, uncompromising, unique, flawed — you need a thesaurus to describe a jockey who won his first race at 12 years old and went on to win 4,492 more in Britain (his worldwide total was around 5,300). That includes a record 30 Classics before he finally retired at 57.
Even more remarkably, the Piggott legend was built around silence. Partially deaf and with a speech impediment, he was a distant and unlikely hero. Old Stoneface, with his craggy features, focused on winning in a style only fools tried to imitate as he folded his 5ft 8in frame in two, his bottom perched high like a shark’s fin hunting down his prey.
The legendary racing figure is pictured riding horse Nijinsky at Newmarket in 1970
The Long Fellow, another nickname, shed two stone from his natural weight on a diet of cigars and fresh air. He married Susan Armstrong, daughter of Newmarket trainer Sam Armstrong, in 1960. By then he already had an established thirst for success which knew no boundaries. And that disregard for rules saw him clash with the authorities and crash to earth as he spent a year in prison for tax evasion.
Yet from that nadir, aged 54, Piggott wrote possibly his most remarkable chapter, returning to win the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Vincent O’Brien’s Royal Academy in front of 100,000 spectators at Belmont Park, New York, in 1990.
Seventh that day on Markofdistinction was Frankie Dettori, the only Flat jockey who can match Piggott for public profile.
Dettori said on Sunday: ‘I rode for him as an apprentice and I then rode with him. I never had the intimidation or fear of him that the other jockeys had because I come from Italy and hadn’t seen him in his heyday, but we had great banter together.
‘I sent him a video a couple of days ago, wishing him well. It was a shock when his daughter Maureen rang me because we thought he was coming out of hospital. There was only one Lester Piggott and he was so far ahead of his time. You have to celebrate what a hero he’s been for our sport.
Piggott, age 12 in this picture, had a firm passion for racing from his early years
‘The Breeders’ Cup win was amazing. He hadn’t ridden for five years, had come out of prison and produced something like that. The magic was still there. You have to put that ride down as one of his best. Everyone was flabbergasted but he just walked into the weighing room, water off a duck’s back, as if “That’s what I do”!’
Four-time champion trainer John Gosden said: ‘I knew him well from the 1970s when he was riding for Noel Murless and Vincent O’Brien. There was always a great mystery about him, what he was thinking and going to do. He was an extraordinary man and unique. How he punished his body for all those years to do the weights and lived to 86 is an achievement in itself. He was the greatest jockey, the smartest and very much his own man.’
No one who witnessed that first success on The Chase at Haydock on August 18, 1948 (his first ride had been in April that year), could have predicted the path that the then angelic-looking boy would tread.
The fierce will to win had been cultivated by his father Keith, himself a capable jump jockey with more than 500 winners, who later trained 1963 Grand National winner Ayala.
His grandfather Ernie rode three Grand National winners and was champion jump jockey three times. His mother Lilian hailed from the Rickaby racing family. Despite attempts by Berkshire Council to prevent the youngster riding full-time, Lester was champion apprentice in 1950 and 1951. His first Derby ride came on the unplaced Zucchero in 1951.
Lester Piggott pictured in conversation with Queen Elizabeth II at the Derby in 1979
Three years later, 33-1 outsider Never Say Die gave Piggott his first Derby win at 18. He celebrated that evening by mowing his parents’ lawn. But within weeks the Royal Ascot stewards, frustrated by Piggott’s lack of respect, banned him for the rest of the season for an overly aggressive ride.
The next season he linked up with royal trainer Murless. Derby success on Crepello in 1957 and St Paddy in 1960 followed but it was not enough. Piggott wanted to be on the best horses all the time, no matter who trained them, and the restrictions of being a stable jockey prevented that.
In 1967, he went freelance, forging a lucrative relationship with O’Brien and owner Robert Sangster. Five Derby wins for O’Brien followed. Sir Ivor in 1968 was the one Piggott picked as the best but Nijinsky in 1970 — the last colt to land the Triple Crown of 2,000 Guineas, Derby and St Leger — was the highest profile. The Minstrel edging out Willie Carson on Hot Grove in 1977 was arguably the most memorable. And with Piggott on the prowl for rides, no one was safe, as his 1984 St Leger win on Commanche Run showed.
Piggott had deputised for the suspended Darrel McHargue when the colt had won its trial and was determined it would be his mount. Owner Ivan Allan recalled: ‘He told me that McHargue couldn’t ride a bicycle and I’d better put him on the horse.’
When the news emerged of his ‘jocking off’, the disgruntled McHargue said he would spend St Leger day playing tennis instead. As he read that on his way up to Doncaster while rain fell, Piggott unrepentantly quipped: ‘He won’t be doing that, either.’ It is just one of many stories of Piggott’s dry wit.
When the trainer Ben Leigh, who averaged fewer than 10 winners a season, was unhappy with a ride Piggott had given his horse in a minor race, he loudly told the jockey: ‘You’ll never ride for me again.’
Piggott gives a rare smile as he jokingly poses with a rocking horse during a studio shoot
‘Well, I’d better pack it in then,’ Piggott responded.
But if Piggott was obsessed with winning, he was equally focused on money, an attitude imbued in him since childhood. Parsimony turned to law-breaking, though. Income was stashed away and tax ignored, with Piggott blaming his lack of education for not realising his obligations.
A fruitful time as stable jockey to Henry Cecil had ended in 1984 and at the end of the 1985 season — after two rides at Nottingham on October 29 including a win on Full Choke — Piggott retired to set up as a trainer in Newmarket, where he had almost 100 horses.
A secret letter then emerged from Cecil asking his racehorse owners to pay a secret retainer in cash. The affair became public and Piggott might still have escaped with a hefty demand plus interest but he failed to disclose all his bank accounts. The case came to court on October 23, 1987.
Despite having already repaid £3.25million to the Inland Revenue, as well as the full sum demanded by Customs and Excise, he was sentenced to three years in jail. He was released 366 days later.
Lester Piggott (left) gets a kiss on the cheek from fellow racing legend Frankie Dettori
It was a terrible fall from grace. Painfully, he forfeited his OBE and the near certainty of a knighthood but Piggott sought sanctuary in the one thing he knew — riding horses — and that Breeders’ Cup triumph in New York.
He was to ride one more Classic winner — Peter Chapple-Hyam’s Rodrigo de Triano in the 1992 2,000 Guineas — and, with perfect symmetry, his last win came on board Palacegate Jack on October 5, 1994, at Haydock, the track where it had all started.
Newmarket trainer William Haggas is married to Piggott’s eldest daughter Maureen. His younger daughter Tracy is a TV presenter in Ireland. His widow Susan still lives in Newmarket, while son Jamie, who he had with former assistant Anna Ludlow in 1994, is a bloodstock agent.
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