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The greatest jockey in the world, jockey Lester Piggott, passed away peacefully earlier today, in Switzerland, having been in hospital for several days.
The decorated jockey rode his first winner, The Chase, at Haydock in 1948 when just 12 years of age and his last win came with Palacegate Jack at the same Merseyside track in 1994, a few weeks short of his 59th birthday. He retired for a final time in 1995.
His death comes six days before the Derby at Epsom, a race he will always be synonymous with. He won the greatest Flat race in the world on a record nine occasions, including as a teenager on the first occasion.
He began riding racehorses at the age of 10 and his last win was in his 60th year. In between, he established himself as the greatest jockey there has been. He won 4,493 races and was champion jockey 11 times.
There were few more distinctive sights in sport than watching the upright Piggott cruise home on a thoroughbred when motionless. Yet he could also win ugly, such as when he all but carried Roberto over the line in the 1972 Derby when he won by a short head and survived a long stewards' inquiry.
In total, he won 30 Classics and ruled at Royal Ascot, chalking up 116 winners there, including 11 in the Gold Cup. A brief training career saw him also saddle Cutting Blade to win the Coventry Stakes at the Royal Meeting in 1986.
He helped shape and mould the career of numerous champions, including the Vincent O’Brien-trained Nijinsky, who won the Triple Crown in 1970. No horse had achieved the feat for 35 years, and none have achieved it since.
Piggott was born on November 5, 1935, and his career path was set from day one. His father, Keith, was a successful jump jockey and champion trainer, while his grandfather, Ernie, rode three Grand National winners. His great-grandfather, Rickaby, trained Wild Dayrell, won the Derby in 1855.
Piggott’s other Derby winners were Crepello (1957), St Paddy (1960), Sir Ivor (1968), Nijinsky (1970), Roberto (1972), Empery (1976), The Minstrel (1977) and Teenoso (1983). He was also runner-up four times, with the last of his 36 rides in the race being in 1994.
France’s biggest prize, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, was scooped three times – including twice on Alleged (1977-78). He was champion jockey for the first time in 1960, gaining the last of his 11 titles in 1982.
Piggott retired at the end of the 1985 Flat season to become a trainer but his new career ended when he was convicted of tax fraud and sent to prison for a year.
On his release, he resumed riding and less than a fortnight after leaving jail, travelled to America to win the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Belmont Park on Royal Academy for Vincent O’Brien. It was perhaps the greatest comeback the sport had ever seen.
He rode on in Britain for another four years before retiring for a second and final time.
The Lesters, inaugurated in 1990, annually recognise the achievements of jockeys, and in 2019 a life-size bronze statue of Piggott was unveiled at Newmarket’s Rowley Mile Racecourse - one of nine effigies to commemorate each of his Derby winners.