Lester Piggott was probably the best jockey who ever lived. He was certainly the most famous. The man who elevated taciturnity to the level of a fine art caught the public imagination like no-one else in racing.
he fascination with Piggott stemmed not just from his extraordinary talent but from the sense that there was something unique about him. In the words of the great sportswriter Hugh McIlvanney, “When Piggott walked into the paddock before the Derby it was like looking at Marlon Brando on the screen. You couldn’t look at anything else. There was the sense of aloofness, almost an aura of superiority.”
Nowhere was he appreciated more than in Ireland. During the 1960s and ’70s the Irish soccer team could not qualify for major tournaments, the rugby team could not capture the Triple Crown, there were no Major-winning golfers, world champion boxers or Olympic medallists. Vincent O’Brien’s great Derby days were our biggest victories on the international sporting stage. Those triumphs included three of Piggott’s greatest performances.
Nobody else could have got Roberto home to beat Rheingold in 1972. Bumped and impeded entering the final furlong, Piggott produced an extraordinary driving finish to prevail by a nose in the final strides. “It was spectacular,” said his old rival Joe Mercer. “The way he hit that horse was like machine-gun fire.” It was one of those occasions when a great performer prevails by pure force of will.
Five years later The Minstrel looked beaten when a length down to Hot Grove, ridden by Willie Carson, inside the final furlong. But Piggott once more got the best out of his mount, hitting the front with just ten yards left to win by a neck. The normally sanguine O’Brien trembled with emotion as The Minstrel passed the post while his wife Jacqueline burst into tears.
Those victories showcased Piggott’s immense power. “I had to ride The Minstrel hard,” he said, “I’d probably get a week now.” But skill and judgement were just as important a part of his armoury and were never better displayed than in his 1968 Derby win on Sir Ivor. With serious doubts over the 2000 Guineas winner’s stamina Piggott waited as long as possible before unleashing an electrifying burst 100 yards from home to win by a length and a half.
The magnitude of his achievement became clearer when in the Irish Derby less than a month later, Ribero ran the finish out of Sir Ivor, ridden by O’Brien’s Irish stable jockey Liam Ward, to shock the 1/3 favourite. Ribero’s rider? L Piggott Esq.
Piggott named Sir Ivor as the best horse he’d ever ridden, though many would select Nijinsky, whose Triple Crown victory in 1970 will probably never be repeated. Nijinsky’s loss to Sassafras in that year’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe saw Piggott accused of leaving the horse too much to do.
But suggestions of a Longchamp jinx were scotched by wins in 1977 and 1978 on another O’Brien great, Alleged, which also showcased the subtler side of the jockey’s art. Such victories made Piggott perhaps the most popular Englishman in Ireland until the arrival of Jack Charlton.
It all began for him when riding his first winner at the age of 12 on August 18, 1948. He was bred into the game. Lester’s father Keith had rode the winner of the Champion Hurdle. One grandfather, Ernie Piggott, won the Grand National three times. The other, Fred Rickaby, won three Classics.
Aged just 18, he won the 1954 Derby on 33/1 shot Never Say Die, the horse he was riding when a controversial King Edward VII Stakes at Ascot subsequently saw him receive a six-month suspension. “The stewards were looking for a chance to teach me a lesson,” he remembered.
In an age of deference when racing was largely run by an aristocratic clique, Piggott’s disdain for authority was clear. It added to his public appeal.
His independence of spirit was illustrated when, after leaving the Noel Murless stable in 1966, he became the first leading jockey to ride on a freelance basis.
His agreement to ride for the wealthy American Robert Sangster in 1977 was equally revolutionary as the first jockey/owner agreement in racing. Shifting the balance of power towards the rider, it benefitted many jockeys later on.
That wouldn’t have mattered to Piggott. He was often criticised for the ‘jocking off’ of other riders who’d been slated to ride big race contenders before he made his interest known.
He didn’t originate the practice. Another great, Steve Donoghue, had been criticised for the same thing as long ago as the 1920s. Yet it seemed to epitomise Piggott’s extreme competitiveness. “He had the killer instinct and the raw desire,” observed the great American jockey Steve Cauthen. “Desire is probably the most important thing. It doesn’t necessarily make you happy, but it makes you successful.”
The year he spent in jail for tax evasion in 1988 probably didn’t affect his reputation because his miserliness was already proverbial. He was 52 and already retired when he got out. The game seemed up.
Two years later he returned. O’Brien was 72 and nearing retirement but wanted his old comrade to ride Royal Academy in the Breeders’ Cup Mile in New York. Piggott warmed up with four races at the Curragh the previous weekend and won them all. Then came what he felt was the greatest ride of his career with Royal Academy winning by a neck.
His 30 English Classics are a record and so are his nine Derbies. He was at his best in the very best races.
This was despite standing five foot seven and a half inches, much taller than most Flat jockeys, which necessitated constant dieting to stay a stone and a half under his normal weight.
It was suggested that struggle might have led to a certain misanthropy. Piggott disagreed: “Sometimes you read that I’ve told people to, well, to push off, but that’s never because I’m hungry, it’s because I’m angry. I live and work in a tough world. I can be a decent human at 8st 4lbs, but I can’t be a saint even at 9st 7lbs.”
Quizzed by The Observer in 1970 about the attributes needed for a jockey he mentioned judgement, doing your homework and strength. “I don’t say it’s the strength you need to bend iron bars. It’s the strength of an acrobat on a tightrope. Or a juggler.”
At his best Lester Piggott seemed more wondrous than any contortionist. For a generation the thin man from Berkshire was as much part of the Irish sporting summer as Micko’s Kerry taking on Heffo’s Dubs, Eddie Keher, Jimmy Barry-Murphy, Eddie Macken in the Aga Khan Cup and Eamonn Coghlan’s Olympic agony.
Thanks a million Long Fellow.
Ukraine carried towards World Cup on a wave of pure emotion
When Real Madrid lost 2-1 at home to Sherriff Tiraspol of Moldova in the Champions League group stages on September 28, few would have imagined the season would end with them winning the competition for a 14th time.
Even fewer would have imagined that Tiraspol manager Yuriy Vernydub would resign his job, and return to his native Ukraine to join the fight against Russia’s invasion.
Hopefully he managed to get a look at Ukraine’s 3-1 win over Scotland which brought them to within a game of qualifying for the World Cup finals for the second time in their history.
Regardless of how today’s game against Wales turns out, the game in Hampden Park was an extraordinary occasion. The closest parallel I can think of is Liverpool’s FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest just three weeks after the Hillsborough disaster.
There was the same sense of a team borne on a wave of communal emotion which meant losing was never an option. Winning a match might seem a small thing when a community has suffered such losses but the consolation it provides can be a welcome light in the darkness.
Slava Ukraini. You’ll never walk alone.
Two women who share a ferocious determination to upset the odds
Martina Trevisan and Khushboo Khan may live on different continents and play different sports but they share a ferocious determination to beat the odds.
Italian tennis player Trevisan quit altogether for four years after a promising junior career due to an eating disorder. At the French Open the world number 59 produced her best ever Grand Slam performance to reach the semi-final before losing to teenage sensation Coco Gauff.
Her recovery and performances are being hailed as a message of hope for those struggling with a condition which affects three million people in Italy alone.
Khan is goalkeeper on the Indian under 23 hockey team which will play in a tournament in Dublin in a fortnight. She lives with six family members in a shack with corrugated iron walls and roof.
Things might be looking up for the Khan family after an article in The Times of India. A local business in her home city of Bhopal has offered a job to her brother, a free education to her family and hopes to find a proper house for them.
