sport news OBITUARY: Lester Piggott's obsession to win made him one of the greatest trends now
Lester Piggott, arguably the 20th century's most iconic racing figure, has died at the age of 86.
Piggott had been in hospital in Switzerland where he moved to live in 2012. That move in retirement may have meant he was largely out of the public eye but the Piggott name remained synonymous with racing, and over 25 years after his riding retirement he remained one of the few jockeys members of the general public would still be able to name.
The word legend can be thrown around like confetti but in Piggott's case it was undoubtedly true.
Sir Gordon Richards may have been champion jockey more times – 26 as opposed to 11 – but Piggott will forever be remembered as a winning machine in the saddle, a rider whose quest for success was obsessive as well as mind-boggling.
You could use a dictionary of adjectives to try to sum up Piggott – some of them surprising - and still not get close to summing him up.
Complex, compelling, introverted, mischievous, miserly, ruthless, shy, uncompromising, unique, flawed. Take your pick.
Each one could be an adjective linked to a jockey who won his first race at 12 years old and went to win 4,493 more in Britain (around 5,300 worldwide), including a record 30 Classics and nine Derbys before finally retiring when he was 57.
Lester Piggott, arguably the 20th century's most iconic racing figure, has died at age of 86
Piggott pictured aboard Nijinsky being led in after winning the Derby at Epsom in 1970
Competing during an era of charismatic sporting superstars headed by motor-mouth Muhammed Ali, the Piggott legend was built around silence.
Partially deaf and with a speech impediment, to the public he was a distant and unlikely hero. He said little, at least audibly, and rarely smiled.
Old Stoneface, with his craggy features, had his eyes focused on winning, and punters loved it.
What he would do every year in the Derby became a national obsession.
Punters signed up to the fan club of the jockey with a style only fools tried to imitate as he folded his 5ft 8in frame in two, his bottom perched high like a shark's fin as he hunted down his prey.
The Long Fellow, another nickname because he boiled down his body to two stone under its natural weight on a diet of cigars and fresh air, had married Susan Armstrong, daughter of Newmarket trainer Sam Armstrong, in 1960.
By then he was already an established winning machine and master tactician whose natural talent was to re-write racing history with a thirst for success which, at times, knew no boundaries.
That disregard of rules on occasions saw him clash with the racing authorities and ultimately crash to earth and spend a year in prison for tax evasion.
Yet from that nadir, at the age 54, Piggott wrote possibly the most remarkable chapter of his life by returning to the saddle and winning the Breeders' Cup Mile on Vincent O'Brien's Royal Academy 12 days after his release in front of 100,000 spectators at Belmont Park in New York.
If the Piggott story had been penned as a novel, it would have been in danger of been dismissed as far-fetched.
Certainly, no-one who witnessed that first success on The Chase at Haydock on August 18, 1948 (his first ride had been in April that year on the same horse at Salisbury) could have predicted the path that the then angelic-looking boy would tread.
But even those early days, the fierce will to win surged through his veins, cultivated by his father Keith, himself a capable jump jockey with over 500 winners and who later trained 1963 Grand National winner Ayala.
Racing was in Piggott's blood. His grandfather Ernie rode three Grand National winners and was champion jump jockey three times. His mother Lilian hailed from the Rickaby racing family.
Piggott spent a year in prison for tax evasion and as a result forfeited his OBE and the near certainty of a knighthood. Pictured the former jockey greets the Queen at the Epsom Derby
During those early riding years, it is clamed Piggott's father was determined to toughen his son up and pitted him against bigger stronger opposition in boxing matches within the stable.
The result was a driven teenage sensation.
Despite attempts by Berkshire County Council to prevent the youngster riding full time, Lester was champion apprentice in both 1950 and 1951. His first Derby ride came on unplaced Zucchero in that second year.
Three years later, 33-1 outsider Never Say Die gave Piggott his first win in the premier Classic when only 18. He celebrated that evening by mowing his parents' lawn.
At the time he was also riding over jumps. Eldoret was his first win at Wincanton on Boxing Day 1953 and he landed the Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival that season on Prince Charlemagne.
But only days after that first Derby win in 1954, the stewards, seemingly frustrated by his lack of respect, banned him for the rest of the season for an overly aggressive ride on Never Say Die in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot.
It meant he missed Never Say Die's St Leger win but proved no hinderance to his progress.
Derby success on Crepello in 1957 and St Paddy in 1960 came as he rode for hugely respected royal trainer Noel Murless but it was not enough.
Piggott wanted to be on the best horses all the time no matter who trained them and the restrictions of being a stable jockey prevented that.
In 1967, he broke with convention and turned freelance. The move allowed him to forged a lucrative relationship with Irish trainer Vincent O'Brien and owner Robert Sangster.
At times Piggott's selfish approach when he tested out horses on the gallops and ignored O'Brien's
