Ive been fortunate enough to have met Lester several times with my uncles dad being Lester Piggott's chauffeur when he was racing. I visited his bungalow in Newmarket several times. He was one of the nicest guys. Best jockey of all time for me.
His style was "Swashbuckling" without being flashy,because it was pure 100 % LP and then u add in the substance and ur left with a combination of Platinum &Steel!..U were most fortunate!
When Lester was interviewed after he won on Nijinsky , the interviewer asked him , when did you think you had the race won ? With the cheek of old Nic , Lester said , About 2 weeks ago ! Brilliant from the Greatest ! Happy Days !
He said that after winning the Washington DC on Karabas the year after he won it on Sir Ivor and the US Press criticised him,one papers headlines was " he ride him like a bum".
In the 1970s mum and dad would take me to the national stud at Newmarket and you could feed the horses a few sugar cubes and give them a patt as they looked out of their stables, the horses, Never Say Die, Mill Reef, and others i can't remember, wonderful days.
I was fortunate enough to meet Lester Piggott when he rode work on a horse I used to ride out, when I worked in a racing yard in Newmarket. I rode the horse from the stables to the racecourse side gallop, and Lester breezed the horse. I even gave the great man a leg up into the saddle. He was very polite, a complete gentleman.
Just a wonderful jockey Especially at his best in the 60s and 70s. Had a great aura about him on the racecourse like a film star. No ones had that before or since Only Dettori come near it.
They go on about others,specially the Yanks but nobody gets close to Lester.I was a kid watching him and he made me flip chairs over,pretend their horses and i would ride and in my mind i was winning the Epsom Derby ect.Later when i grew up,he made a few bob for me when occasionally i placed a bet.Watched him ride in the 70s and 80s and along with another great sportsman,Seve Ballesteros,made me smile.Thank You Lester Piggott,in my mind,you became Sir Lester Piggott a long time ago.
Thanks for posting this. These days superstar status comes cheap and is short lived. Lester doesn't need to be called a superstar, he simply is what he is.
I was lucky to see Lester.Pigott ride at the Mahalaxmi racecourse in Mumbai sometime in the 1990's.I had taken my mother along to the racecourse to witness a once in a lifetime horse racing occasion .I had bet his horse "Clarke Gable" a outsider for "Place Money" and sure enough neither the horse nor Lestor.Pigott disappointed the betting public who placed their money on him by "WINNING" let alone "PLACING".I still remember this race as if it happened yesterday with Lestor Pigott zooming past the front runners from the extreme outside facing the railbirds fence.
I remember my ex boss a racehorse owner going off racing and I had to answer the phone a bloke rang asking if he could speak to the boss, tbh he sounded like a cockney market trader and I just said he was out and put the phone down. a week or 2 later my boss said Lester told him somebody rude answered the phone and cut him off.. I was only 17 and had no idea my idol sounded like a London gangster. he will always be the most gifted jockey I shall ever get a chance to see..
If you said to a non racing fan - to name the most famous jockey in the world they would probably say lester piggott - I'll never forget the feeling i got as an 11 year old watching the Minstrel beat hot Grove 🏇🏇 Wow
Watch the guineas win on Nijinsky at Nkt. That was poetry from horse and jockey absolute style and balance. Fantastic to watch in black and white. Never get tired of watching it.
Sir Ivor. I was at Epsom that day in 1968 . Lester Piggott is the greatest jockey of all time . No other jockey had that charisma, that aura that almost transcended mere humanness .
The background music is unnecessary Piggott like Mc Coy where riding when jockeys could use the shillelagh relentlessly.Times have changed and it will be impossible to repeat a lot of their feats.I wouldn’t say he was the best but he got lucky and was riding for the best Vincent O Brien..
scott.Lester was the greatest.all great jockeys need great trainers to ride for.You get rides for great trainers because your a great jockey.it isnt my opinion lester was the greatest....its a fact....no luck involved.
@@annahenry6991 ,, Not the most fashionable rider but most importantly Lester was effectively great. Statistics doesn't always tell the true tale in horse racing . As such,,, Cordero, Carson &Pincay are equally comparable in class if not better.
@@winstonleighton1358 Dear Winston , another Distinguished name still around inn Lester's era ! Yes he was a Wonder About 1970 , he rode a Horse bred by Geoffrey Rickman ( my BN late Husband was his Stud Groom before we emigrated ) named Joshua . & Would decide WHICH.race to place him in . Once winning a VERY close race ( in France). where every other jockey tried SOOOOH hard to stop him he remarked " it was a .WIN weren't it . A Win ! '.. a-j
He was a convicted tax evader who served time in prison even got his OBE taken away from him ...... and then still trying to evade paying tax he moved to Switzerland ........ thats how i`l remember Piggott ............ A TAX EVADER
Bit like most of so many MPs, and crooked police. You need to get out a bit more. Have a look at the shit who own football clubs Aramnovich etc and a lot of the UK - a load of fucking crooks who have sweet fuck all to do with the UK other than "nick a nice few quid"
Angel Montero in 1968 &69,lester piggott won the DC international with his riding style,to each his own, Steve Cauthen rode in the UK for several years and it made him a more rounded jockey.
