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05 Nov 18
01:30
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Date Joined:
28 May 10
83 today!
Birthday greetings to possibly the greatest horseman and jockey ever, and certainly of my lifetime, the great SIR Lester Piggott. Anyone who ever saw him ride will still treasure the memory. He wasted away for 35-40 years of his life, to do 8st 6lbs, when his body should have weighed about 10 stone. You young 'uns think on that when you look up his achievements and record on wiki!
They should give this man his knighthood back. Let’s be fair, what did he do but look after his money and avoid tax, just like her majesty the Queen, who herself stashed millions away in an off-seas account. They didn’t take her title off of her did they?!
Many thanks for all the memories Lester. I hope you are still well and enjoying life.
Birthday greetings to possibly the greatest horseman and jockey ever, and certainly of my lifetime, the great SIR Lester Piggott. Anyone who ever saw him ride will still treasure the memory. He wasted away for 35-40 years of his life, to do 8st 6lbs, when his body should have weighed about 10 stone. You young 'uns think on that when you look up his achievements and record on wiki!
They should give this man his knighthood back. Let’s be fair, what did he do but look after his money and avoid tax, just like her majesty the Queen, who herself stashed millions away in an off-seas account. They didn’t take her title off of her did they?!
Many thanks for all the memories Lester. I hope you are still well and enjoying life.
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY LONG FELLA.
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LoyalHoncho: Piggott was never knighted. It was an OBE that was taken from him.
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A real one off. That Breeders Cup win on Royal Academy was the ultimate display of his ability.
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Know lester as 2 daughters but any grand kids??
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Whose whip did he nick in a race?
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Happy Birthday Lester.
An image engraved on my brain is of Lester riding Gladness to win The Ebor in 1958 (I was a young fella at the time!!) ... He came to the furlong pole with his backside high in the air, looking disdainfully right and then left before cruising to (I think) a five length victory. Of course, as my forum name indicates, I was a big fan of his long before that. Like the real greats in other sports (Tiger Woods for example) the likes of Lester do not come along very often .... |
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My Hero…I was drawn next to him at Windsor in my very short riding career and I thought if I Die Tomorrow I will Die a Happy Man....Happy Birthday Lester.
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The best there as ever been, the best there will ever be, very happy birthday Lester.
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The Greatest
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2 daughters and a son. Think he took the whip fron Alan Lequeux (may not be correct spelling).
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Knew he had 2 daughters didn't know he had a son.Not sure if Maureen as any children.Love the story he told about the yank he jocked off commanche run and playing tennis.
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w haggas ,son in law
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Think he should get his knighthood back for sure.
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He was never knighted.
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saxon........thought he was knighted.Well he should be knighted now then.
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A disgrace not only that he wasn't knighted but stripped of his OBE.
I'm not condoning his act of tax evasion but the financial world is awash with far more dubious characters, aka Philip Green to name one who continue to live as 'Sir'. On a different note, i didn't know until recently that Lester now resides in Switzerland. |
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Agree AIS and I didn't know still today that Lester had a heart attack at 72. Birthday greetings to one of the greats.
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*till
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Son obviously not out of Susan.
There was once a fantastic private eye cover showing the queen ringing Lester to ask his advice on tax evasion ! |
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I never understood the need to send people to prison for financial crimes.
Does it not cost about £100k a year or something to keep someone locked up? Lester when found guilty should have been fined, a massive amount obviously and ordered to pay the tax as well. Which is what happened in the ken dodd case which occurred around the same time. Only Mr Dodd put on a bravura performance in the theatre of the court which is supposed to have impressed the judge.. Lester with his speech impediment, was at the mercy of the british justice system. Then as now it chose to persecute those who are different. Anyway Happy birthday to the great man |
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My uncle named his son lester after Piggott and his surname was Richards.So he was lester Richards.
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Will always, no matter what, still be the greatest
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the master ! nuff said !
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famous for nicking rides in big races and meaness but a very very hard and great jockey
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You got it all in a few words isleham. Little point looking at the man but I've been waiting for a jockey as good since I was a little lad in the 60's. Still waiting though Fallon went close.
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My favourite Derby was the Minstrel beating Hot Grove. I didn't mind which won as I'D backed both and had the Forecast.
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you might say he was ahead of his time with regards tax avoidance, his crime would barely get a mention today. Happy Birthday to a true legend of the game.
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83 today, amazing he rode his first winner back in 1948 when he was 12, enjoying his retirement now living near Lake Geneva.
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He rode horses like he was part of them and we may never see the like him again.
Even when he spoke with that lisp you listened hard to every word he said because he knew what he was talking about. He told owners exactly what he thought of their horse and didn’t mince his words. Careful with his money was legendary, he once made the mistake of writing to all the owners for his riding fees to be paid in cash (to avoid Tax). One of them was Sir Howard de Walden (a steward of the Jockey Club) but his friends in high places got him out of trouble there. He was too tight to pay an Accountant. He would have got away with the Tax evasion but he paid them what they eventually asked for with a cheque from the Account they were looking for. That’s why he went to prison. |
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I was 14 when he rode his first winner. I remember the day well as I was fishing with a friend and I fell into the pond. The next morning the BBC radio news had an item about his win (but not my near death experience :-)) I was already backing horses with a friend at school who put our bets on with his Grannies ones with a street bookie.
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VO'B didnt like him to ride work as he rode them hard to find out their ability at home before visiying the track..allegedly
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Vincent also said that a jockey's place was on the track and not on the gallops.
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I loved it when a racing journalist asked him, ''At which point did you think you'd win ?''.
God replied, ''About 6 weeks ago''.  |
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Dambuster,
^^^ Remember that interview and reply well. I wonder if any Owners on here have a photo of Lester riding their horse ? I’m sure it would have pride of place over their mantelpiece. The equivalent of the racing man’s Rembrandt.  |
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Took a girlfriend to Ascot one year on her 21st birthday, and afterwards when the jockeys were leaving we seen Lester Piggott, and she went up to him and told him it was her birthday and please would he sign her racecard, and he scribbled his autograph ....... and Geoff Lewis walked past and said, "Yer getting soft Lester !"
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He rode a horse for an obscure trainer one day, the trainer was fuming with the ride Lester gave the horse and said.
''You'll never ride for me again'', to Which God replied, ''I might as well retire then''.. |
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Twelve days after his first ride back, Piggott landed his richest prize, the Breeders’ Cup Mile at New York’s Belmont Park, on the O’Brien-trained Royal Academy. John Reid, the horse’s regular jockey, had broken his collarbone. “That was a stroke of luck,” Piggott says. Reid will have thought otherwise.
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i think it was Snowy Wainwright that comment was attributed to Dambuster for Lesters ride on Music Boy.
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