Lester Piggott no more: Pesi Shroff and Aslam Kader pay tribute to the legendary jockey

Lester Piggott. PIC/GETTY IMAGES

Legendary English jockey Lester Piggott, who won the Epsom Derby a record nine times in a career spanning 47 years, passed away on Sunday in Switzerland, where he spent the last years of his life. He was 86.

Piggott rode his first winner at the age of 12, and his last at 59, coincidentally, both at the Haydock racetrack in England. His career tally stood at 4,493 winners. Piggott created a sensation by winning his first Epsom Derby at the age of 18, in 1954, astride Never Say Die and became a bigger sensation by winning the Breeders Cup Mile in the US in 1990, at the age of 54, after coming out of his second official retirement.

Being too tall for a jockey at 5' 8", Lester earned the nickname, "The Long Fellow" in racing circles. He also popularised the riding style of sitting up and riding with shorter reins.

Piggott was born into a racing family, and had hearing and speech issues as a child. He preferred to spend time with horses in the stables of his horse trainer-father Keith, who impressed upon him that a jockey must try to win at any cost, advising little Lester he should go "between the hind legs of the horse in front" if there was no room. It was a tip which many felt was responsible for Piggott's many visits to the stewards room to explain what was viewed as "dangerous riding" on many occasions.

However, these visits never perturbed the legendary jockey. "Lester goes into the stewards' room like Clint Eastwood and he comes out like Clint Eastwood. He doesn't give a damn," jockey Bryn Crossley once said.

Some psychologists attribute Lester's obsession with money, his miserly nature despite making millions, and his later brush with tax authorities which made him spend a year in jail for tax evasion, to the constant advice he received during his impressionable years from his mother who had seen many jockeys die in penury after making big money in their prime.

Despite his faults, and reticence which gave the impression of him being arrogant, he was the darling of the British racing fans who religiously bet on his horse, especially, when he rode in the Epsom Derby.

It was rumoured that Piggott's winning ride astride Nijinsky in 1970 cost the English bookmakers close to £3 million in payouts.

Jockey Willie Carson, who rode alongside Piggott for several years, and can rightly claim to know him inside out, chose to call him "enigmatic, bizarre, but unique," when asked by a producer who made a documentary on Piggott's life. Piggott, however, refused to feature in the documentary unless he was paid a "small fortune" for the appearance, confirming Carson's assessment of him.

Piggott made a few trips to India to ride in the Indian Derby at Mahalaxmi for horses owned by Vijay Mallya.

"The greatest rider, without a doubt" former ace jockey Aslam Kader called him when speaking to mid-day.com.

"He was generally reticent," Kader added, "but when I beat Willie Carson astride La Bonn Vie in a photo finish in the 1992 Indian Derby with Astonish, Lestor, who also rode in the race, came up to me, and said, "You are a top rider. That was an amazing ride."

"He twice visited India to ride in the Derby. I have many fond memories of him," said Pesi Shroff, who narrated an incident when he visited London after winning the 1991 Indian Derby with Star Fire Girl: "I don't know from where he got the phone number of the flat I was staying in, but the host woke me up at 5 am saying there is a prank call, the person on the line says he is Lester Piggott and wants to speak with me. Indeed, it was Lester. He said he was going to Ireland for a rideand wanted to know if I would like to join him. I said yes, I would love to and he quickly arranged for the flight tickets and a box at the racecourse to make it a memorable day for me."