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Interesting to hear Lester Piggott , on the eve of his 80th birthday,
give his latest views on horse racing .On today’s jockeys , Lester says they are more stylish now , but that , he says,
is due to getting more practice and more rides.
Frankie is still the best around , says the Longfella .Is Frankel the greatest or is it Nijinsky ?
Neither , according to Lester.
” Sea Bird is the best I’ve seen , then Ribot , and then Frankel.”Lester Piggott : still my favourite ever jockey .
He doesn’t say much , but when he does , we listen carefully .
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
Interesting to hear Lester Piggott , on the eve of his 80th birthday,
give his latest views on horse racing .On today’s jockeys , Lester says they are more stylish now , but that , he says,
is due to getting more practice and more rides.
Frankie is still the best around , says the Longfella .Is Frankel the greatest or is it Nijinsky ?
Neither , according to Lester.
” Sea Bird is the best I’ve seen , then Ribot , and then Frankel.”Lester Piggott : still my favourite ever jockey .
He doesn’t say much , but when he does , we listen carefully . Lester reckoned Storm The Stars would win the Leger. Ex-jockey eh? They can’t tip rubbish
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
Lester reckoned Storm The Stars would win the Leger. Ex-jockey eh? They can’t tip rubbish
To be fair , Steve ( thanks for the kind words btw ) , Lester’s daughter is married to the trainer of Storm The Stars.
Keeping the family happy , is what Lester was doing .
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
Lester reckoned Storm The Stars would win the Leger. Ex-jockey eh? They can’t tip rubbish
To be fair , Steve ( thanks for the kind words btw ) , Lester’s daughter is married to the trainer of Storm The Stars.
Keeping the family happy , is what Lester was doing .
I was just having a laugh with that one. I have followed William Haggas since the very start of his career and it was largely because of the connection to Lester that my mate and I had a theory he might be worth keeping an eye on. Back then he was known as “the boy Haggas” by us in our search for winners.
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
Piggott thought Golden Horn unbeatable in the Derby, and I think it was Magnier who said Lester was the best tipster he’d ever known.
I thought LP made a fair point in that BBC article about today’s champion jocks having around 1,000 rides a season compared with his 500 or so. He wasn’t carping about it, and whether fewer opportunities made it harder or easier for him back then, I don’t know.
Such a shame he turned out a thoroughly unlikable man in so many ways. I guess many idols do indeed have feet of clay. I was at a dinner once and told a friend, who knew Lester well, that I was going to ask him to autograph a racecard for my father who was a longtime fan. My friend said, ‘Best let me get it for you, otherwise he’ll ask you to pay for it.’
I never saw the like of him in the saddle and never will again, and I suppose we should accept him for that genius alone.
No bigger fan of Lester as a jockey than me but don’t know where any notion about him being a good tipster comes from.
For some he tarnished his reputation for predictable reasons by putting his name to a tipping line when he retired and if he had anything to do with the selections at that time they were absolutely awful by all accounts.
In addition I have yet to read anything particularly inspired on the few occaisions that Lester is interviewed or quoted on his opinion of big races….living up to his reputation he probably says the highly predictable first idea that comes into his head just to get the interview over with.
Great jockey obviously and a star quality mystique that surrounds him that nobody probably even he can put their finger on but thus far nothing much to say or listen to.
Lester would have taken the tipster line cash without a second thought or a minute’s work. They probably just bought his ‘brand’. So far as his public tipping is concerned, I suspect you’re right, he’ll spout the first thing in his head. But you can bet one thing, what he tells Magnier and his ilk will be miles away from what he says to a journo or a fan
The memory for me that never fails to raise a chuckle is of Lester, after winning his second Washinton DC International, being approached by the customary TV reporter on horseback and being told in detail what a wonderful ride he’d given Karabas was then asked ‘When did you actually know you had the race won ?’ to which the jockey replied “about three months ago”
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