Piggott Classics Still Shine Bright

The beautifully evocative photograph of Lester Piggott and Vincent O'Brien in last Thursday's TDN brought the memories flooding back, memories which warmed the latest bleak winter morning. The road to the Classics starts generally later in the spring in Europe than it does in the U.S., and at this time of year a catalyst to prompt reflections on Classic days past never goes amiss.

As we gradually count down towards Derby Day 2018, we approach the 50th anniversary of the victory of the horse whom Lester Piggott has described as the best of his record nine Derby winners: Sir Ivor (Sir Gaylord). Some may have different opinions as to the relative merits of the nine, with many observers convinced that the 1970 Triple Crown winner Nijinsky should have been ranked first among these most distinguished of equals. But Sir Ivor, seemingly, is Lester's pick; and, in truth, one would be foolhardy to claim to know better than the man whom many will always regard as the greatest jockey of all time.

What made Lester so great? Who can say. Whatever the key to his mastery, however, it does nothing to answer the 'nature versus nurture' debate so memorably played out by Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy in the movie 'Trading Places' because, in retrospect, Lester seemed destined for greatness by both pedigree and upbringing.

Lester's father Keith Piggott was a successful trainer, his finest hour coming when Ayala won the Grand National in 1963. His grandfather Ernie Piggott was three times Britain's champion National Hunt jockey and rode three Grand National winners: Jerry M in 1912 and Poethlyn in 1918 and 1919. His great uncles Mornington and Kempton Cannon (their sister married Ernie Piggott) came from arguably Britain's greatest riding and training family of the 19th century. Both rode a Derby winner, and 'Morny' was Britain's champion jockey in six of the seven seasons between 1891 and 1897.

The bottom half of Lester's pedigree represented Flat racing royalty. His great-grandfather John Rickaby trained the 1855 Derby winner Dayrell. His grandfather Fred Rickaby rode three Classic winners and his uncle Fred Lester Rickaby rode five before he was killed in action during the First World War, aged only 24. His cousins Fred Arthur Rickaby and William Anthony ('Bill') Rickaby were both leading riders. The former was Britain's champion apprentice in 1931 and 1932 before increasing weight curtailed his career; he subsequently emigrated to South Africa after the Second World War and became a leading trainer in Durban. The latter was one of England's leading jockeys for many years until retiring in 1968 at the age of 51 with three Classic victories under his belt.

Even in this distinguished company, though, Lester came to stand out. Plenty of credit for that must go to his upbringing. Growing up under the strict tutelage of his father, Lester could ride as soon as he could walk. Born on Nov. 5 1935, he became apprenticed to his father as soon as he could and rode his first winner at the age of 12, winning on The Chase at Haydock Park in 1948.

Lester was clearly a prodigy, albeit in an era where it was not unusual for children to ride in races. Earlier in the century Frank Wootton, whose feat of riding his first winner at the age of nine is unlikely ever to be repeated, was still aged only 18 when becoming Britain's champion jockey for the fourth time in 1912. Lester could not match that level of precocity but he had just turned 15 when he became champion apprentice in November 1950. He topped the apprentices' standings again in 1951. In 1952 he rode in the Derby for the first time when, still aged only 16, he partnered Gay Time into second place behind Tulyar, the mount of the veteran Charlie Smirke. Two years later he rode the first of his nine Derby winners, taking the premier Classic on Never Say Die, trained in Newmarket by Joe Lawson.

Two potentials clouds, however, loomed on Lester's horizon: increasing weight, and clashes with authority. He had spent the winter prior to his first Derby victory riding over hurdles, seemingly mindful that his increasing size might dictate that his future lay under National Hunt rules. That spring he had ridden the winner of a selling hurdle race at the National Hunt Meeting (now known as the Cheltenham Festival) as well as taking the Triumph Hurdle at Hurst Park on Prince Charlemagne. Happily, though, Lester's iron self-discipline ensured that, despite what was at the time seen as an almost unfeasible height (5′ 8″) for a jockey, he was able to remain light enough to ride on the Flat. The story was that he would begin the day with a breakfast which consisted of 'a cough and a copy of the Sporting Life' before getting through the rest of the day on cigar-smoke.

Happily, maturation saw Lester tempering the aggression of his riding. He could not have sustained a lengthy career otherwise, but the six-month disqualification handed to him by the Jockey Club stewards for his riding of Never Say Die at Royal Ascot in a very rough King Edward VII S. three weeks after the colt's Derby victory served as a vital wake-up call. Not only that, it also changed the direction of his life: having lived and worked hitherto in his father's Lambourn stable, he was ordered by the stewards to move away and start afresh. Newmarket beckoned, initially to work for Jack Jarvis, to whom he was connected by marriage (his cousin Bill Rickaby having married the trainer's niece Bridget).

It did not take long, though, before Lester was riding for the leading trainer in the town: Noel Murless, who trained in Warren Place, from which he landed eight trainers' championships between 1957 and 1973. The pair enjoyed remarkable success with the Derby winners Crepello and St Paddy, as well as with such champions as Petite Etoile, Twilight Alley, Carozza and Aurelius.

Noel Murless was still at the height of his powers in 1966 (indeed, the following year he trained the Derby winner Royal Palace) but that year's Derby meeting saw the end of the golden era which he and Lester had shared. Vincent O'Brien had been building up an equine powerhouse at Ballydoyle in Ireland. Lester had been riding for him occasionally since 1958. In 1957 Ballydoyle had contained two high-class 3-year-olds, Ballymoss and Gladness. Irish jockey T. P. Burns was the stable's principal rider, both on the Flat and over hurdles, and he had been riding them both, including partnering Ballymoss when he finished second in the Derby at Epsom (behind Lester on Crepello) and first in both the Irish Derby at The Curragh and the St Leger at Doncaster. However, Burns was badly injured in a fall in a hurdle race in the spring of 1958 and was out of action for the rest of the year. The result was that Lester was chosen to ride Gladness (winning the Ascot Gold Cup and, two months later, the Ebor H. at York) while Scobie Breasley became Ballymoss's jockey, taking the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth S. at Ascot and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp.

As O'Brien's stable continued to thrive, it became inevitable that matters would come to a head. Lester chose to ride O'Brien's filly Valoris in the 1966 Oaks instead of Murless's runner Varinia (which was a good choice as Valoris won the race with Varinia only third). Henceforth, he was O'Brien's jockey while Murless looked elsewhere, initially to George Moore and subsequently to Sandy Barclay and then Geoff Lewis.

If Piggott's association with Murless had been a golden era, his partnership with O'Brien was a match made in heaven. The two greatest racing professionals in Europe, they combined to sweep the board with some of the mightiest racehorses the world has ever seen, headed by the Derby winners Sir Ivor, Nijinsky, Roberto and The Minstrel, plus dual Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Alleged. It was, initially anyway, an arrangement which in retrospect seems rather strange: Piggott still lived in Newmarket and would only ride O'Brien's overseas runners while the stable jockey Liam Ward rode the domestic runners. Indeed, Ward, six times Ireland's champion jockey, rode both Sir Ivor and Nijinsky in the Irish Derby. The latter won but the former was beaten by the English-trained Ribero, who was ridden (needless to say) by Lester.

Arguably the greatest week for the team came in June 1975 when O'Brien (who only had 15 horses aged three or above in his stable at the time) sent nine of the 15 to Ascot. All but one was due to run during the four-day Royal Meeting, while the final runner, Guillaume Tell, was set to contest the Churchill S. on the 'Ascot Heath' card on the Saturday. One of the nine, Sir Penfro, was only running because he was being sent back to his owner in England, and his owner wanted an Ascot runner. Of the remaining eight, one (Hail The Pirates, who was due to contest the Prince Of Wales's S.) was cast in his box the night before his intended race and had to be scratched. The remaining seven all won (Lester actually only rode five of them as two had light weights, so he arranged for Gianfranco Dettori and Willie Carson to take his place).

When Lester's time with O'Brien ended, he enjoyed another golden era: back at Warren Place, by now in the hands of Noel Murless's son-in-law Henry Cecil. More Classics victories ensued as well as his 10th and 11th jockeys' championships in 1981 and 1982. Lester turned 50 in November 1985 and the time seemed right to retire from the saddle. Training was the obvious next step, and he duly sent out Cutting Blade to win the G2 Coventry S. at Royal Ascot the following June. Thereafter, though, the seemingly seamless succession from one chapter to another turned into the Tales of the Unexpected.

The first deviation from the script came when the Inland Revenue launched an investigation into possible tax evasion. The eventual upshot was that Lester was convicted and served a year in jail. His wife Susan (he had followed the family tradition of marrying into a racing dynasty, Susan being the daughter of one of Newmarket's training doyens, Frederick Lakin 'Sam' Armstrong) had taken over the stable, but on his release Lester did not rejoin the training ranks. Instead he and his old ally Vincent O'Brien hatched a plan in October 1990. The master trainer was winding down towards retirement but had one top-class horse in his stable: Royal Academy. The beautiful colt had been ridden in all his races by the stable jockey John Reid, but unfortunately the latter had been injured in a fall at Longchamp on Arc Day at the start of the month. O'Brien was aged 72 and Piggott 54. Could the only old firm roll back the years? It could. Lester renewed his jockey's license and returned with three rides for Henry Cecil at Leicester. The following day he won at Chepstow on Nicholas, trained by Susan. On the Monday he went to The Curragh to ride four horses for O'Brien; all four won. Five days later the fairytale came true as Royal Academy landed a heart-stopping, tear-flowingly unforgettable victory in the G1 Breeders' Cup Mile at Belmont Park.

Lester rode for another four years. In 1992 he registered his 30th and final Classic triumph when donning Robert Sangster's silks once again to win the 2,000 Guineas on the Peter Chapple-Hyam-trained Rodrigo De Triano (El Gran Senor). The partnership subsequently landed three more Group 1 victories later in the summer, taking the Irish 2,000 Guineas, Juddmonte International and Champion S. He and O'Brien brought their Royal Ascot curtains down in 1993 when taking the Cork And Orrery (now Diamond Jubilee) S. with College Chapel, racing in Jacqueline O'Brien's colours. There was not a dry eye in the house when the ageing trainer led the colt back in off the course through the hallowed gates into the (sadly now gone forever) sacred winner's enclosure.

In October 1994, Lester Piggott, rider of 4,493 winners including 30 British Classic triumphs, ended up where it had all began: in the winner's enclosure at Haydock Park on Palacegate Jack, 46 years after having dismounted in the same spot on The Chase. During those 46 years he had re-written the record books and shown himself to be the most successful, most talented, most charistmatic, most ruthless, most disciplined, most astute, most respected, most fearless, most feared, most popular, most feted, most taciturn, most inscrutable, most mythologised, most professional and greatest jockey of his era.

Even in retirement, of course, Lester wasn't retired. He and Susan had had two daughters, one of whom, Maureen, had married William Haggas, who trains in Newmarket. When Haggas prepared Shaamit to win the Derby in 1996, you can guess the identity of his 60-year-old work rider. And if you want to know who is going to win this year's Derby–well, you could do worse than ask Lester Keith Piggott, because no man alive knows horses or racing better than he does.