RIP Lester Piggott.
Greatest Jockey ever.
Lester
Forum rules
Do not to post anything abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, or sexually-orientated.
Do not post anything negative about any player.
No advertising other games.
The management reserves the right to delete or lock threads and messages at any time.
Read the complete SIM rules and legal information.
Do not to post anything abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, or sexually-orientated.
Do not post anything negative about any player.
No advertising other games.
The management reserves the right to delete or lock threads and messages at any time.
Read the complete SIM rules and legal information.
-
Norman Architecture
- Grade 1 Winner
- Posts: 873
- Joined: 17 years ago
Lester
Regal Farms
Home of Louisville Derby Winner BELIEVE THE HYPE , World Cup and LIC Winner WITH KIND REGARDS and SC Turf Sprint Winner SUNDAY SOUND.
Home of Louisville Derby Winner BELIEVE THE HYPE , World Cup and LIC Winner WITH KIND REGARDS and SC Turf Sprint Winner SUNDAY SOUND.
-
Stormy Peak
- Hall of Fame
- Posts: 6755
- Joined: 17 years ago
- Location: Idaho
Re: Lester
Sorry to hear of his passing. He had quite a career.
He had 30 Epsom Derby attempts, won 9 of them,
Retired in 1985, trained horses, but then went to prison for a year for tax fraud.
He then made a comeback and rode again for 4 more years.
He was a Champion jockey 11 times between 1960 and 1982
Three Arc Wins, and a Breeders Cup win
He rode and won races on both flat and jump racing.
In the UK he had 4,493 career wins
Total wins worldwide was about 5,300
I started watching horse racing in 1972. And here in the USA, Bill Shoemaker was usually the top headliner as far as jockeys.
I can't remember the first time I heard of Lester Piggott, but it wasn't too long before I was well aware that he was a great jockey...and given that back then we only had 3 t.v. channels and horse racing was mentioned just upon occasion in sports magazines, or in a small paragraph in some newspapers, his name popped up quite often.
BTW, The year I graduated, in 1982... Bill Shoemaker and Lester Piggott rode in a charity match race held at Ascot.
Here's a 1982 article about that race:
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/09/24 ... 401688000/
It sounds like that had great respect for the other.
On a side note:
I remember being very proud of Shoemaker, when he rode in the UK in several major races.
At the time, he got picked on a little bit for his American style of riding with the stirrups being really short, thus leaving him balanced 'high' above the horses back.
Some UK reporters thought that with the longer races and the up and down slopes on some of the tracks, that Shoemaker would get too tired in that position...or worse...fall off the horse. But Bill proved quite capable in handling himself and did fairly well there. I still have some newspaper and sports magazine clippings about him racing over there.
My condolence go out to Lester's family, friends and his fans.
Stormy
He had 30 Epsom Derby attempts, won 9 of them,
Retired in 1985, trained horses, but then went to prison for a year for tax fraud.
He then made a comeback and rode again for 4 more years.
He was a Champion jockey 11 times between 1960 and 1982
Three Arc Wins, and a Breeders Cup win
He rode and won races on both flat and jump racing.
In the UK he had 4,493 career wins
Total wins worldwide was about 5,300
I started watching horse racing in 1972. And here in the USA, Bill Shoemaker was usually the top headliner as far as jockeys.
I can't remember the first time I heard of Lester Piggott, but it wasn't too long before I was well aware that he was a great jockey...and given that back then we only had 3 t.v. channels and horse racing was mentioned just upon occasion in sports magazines, or in a small paragraph in some newspapers, his name popped up quite often.
BTW, The year I graduated, in 1982... Bill Shoemaker and Lester Piggott rode in a charity match race held at Ascot.
Here's a 1982 article about that race:
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/09/24 ... 401688000/
It sounds like that had great respect for the other.
On a side note:
I remember being very proud of Shoemaker, when he rode in the UK in several major races.
At the time, he got picked on a little bit for his American style of riding with the stirrups being really short, thus leaving him balanced 'high' above the horses back.
Some UK reporters thought that with the longer races and the up and down slopes on some of the tracks, that Shoemaker would get too tired in that position...or worse...fall off the horse. But Bill proved quite capable in handling himself and did fairly well there. I still have some newspaper and sports magazine clippings about him racing over there.
My condolence go out to Lester's family, friends and his fans.
Stormy
Last edited by Stormy Peak 1 year ago, edited 1 time in total.
SIRES: Turf Routers - Each multiple G1 winners
Tuck Everlasting
Fee $30,500
Wolfman Jack
Fee $18,000
Tuck Everlasting
Fee $30,500
Wolfman Jack
Fee $18,000
-
Brian Chunn
- Miler
- Posts: 162
- Joined: 8 years ago
Re: Lester
RIP "The Long Fellow"....I had the pleasure of riding work with Lester when he came to Manton in 1992/3, my boss Peter Chapple-Hyam wanted Lester to ride Rodrigo Di Triano in the 2000 Guineas and the owner Robert Sangster was not sure about it, but gave in and Lester was given the ride, he came to Manton many times and was a pleasure to be around, and of course "Rodrigo" won the Guineas and many Group 1"s after. Fast forward to 2018 i am walking down Newmarket high street and get a tap on my shoulder, turn round it"s Lester had a chat about "the Manton days" and "Rodrigo" a top top man.
-
Nick Gilmore
- Hall of Fame
- Posts: 5369
- Joined: 16 years ago
Re: Lester
Brian, thanks for sharing your memories of a great man. A sad day, he will be terribly missed.
RIP, Mr Piggott.
RIP, Mr Piggott.
-
John Nicholson
- Listed Stakes Winner
- Posts: 504
- Joined: 13 years ago
Re: Lester
I agree with you norman