Ruby Walsh: Lester Piggott is to racing what Pele is to soccer

By winning the Epsom Derby nine times in 29 years, Lester Piggott set a record that may never be surpassed

BOWING TO THE MASTER: Ryan Moore lays a floral tribute by the statue of the late Lester Piggott at Epsom on Friday. Picture: Tim Goode/PA 

The Cazoo Derby, in memory of Lester Piggott. What else could today’s great race be called since the man who won it more times than most jockeys have even dreamed of riding in it passed away last Sunday?

Nine times he won the race. There is no dress rehearsal or replay, no second chance or redemption. It is once only for the beasts that line up at Epsom and only one Derby winner per generation.

Lester did it twice in the 50s, first on Never Say Die when he was 18 and then on Crepello just after turning 21. He did it twice in the 60s, on St Paddy and Sir Ivor, his fourth coming 14 years after his first. He won it another four times in the 70s, two of those after his 40th birthday, and finally in the 80s aboard Teenoso in 1983, 29 years after his first.

He won it in every way, from youthful enthusiasm to an aged, experienced rider and proved there was more than one way, winning it on short-priced speedsters and long-priced stayers, setting sail off the hill, waiting to come late, and with brute force and determination.

I can’t, and won’t, pass a comment on Lester Piggott. I never met him, which was my loss, and watched him live only once, as a six-year-old at the Phoenix Park with my late grandfather, when he won the Champion Stakes on Commanche Run. He could well have ridden more winners that day, but I only remember that one.

I remember his return to riding after his initial retirement and spell in one of Her Majesty’s prisons for tax evasion, his victory on Royal Academy at the Breeders’ Cup and his crushing fall from Mr Brooks a year later.

I watched him win his final British Classic on Rodrigo De Triano, but I didn’t get its significance at the time. He proved that he could still do it because a sporting brain like his never dies, but an ageing body can’t have made it easy.

He didn’t dominate then as before, but how could he? Time had moved on, and so had the power of where the good horses were. Yet he still made a mark.

I didn’t get the fuss because I hadn’t seen him in his pomp and was too young to understand just how good that brain had to be to compete with physically more youthful, stronger, fitter men.

Riding is physical, and to compete physically with men such as Steve Cauthen and Pat Eddery in their prime, when you spent five years not competing, as well as being in your mid-50s, says enough about Lester Piggott’s mentality.

He is to racing what Pele is to soccer. His CV is genuinely astonishing, but the stories and thoughts of those who marvelled at what he could do in real-time are compelling. It made for fascinating reading this week and made me wish Lester Piggott plied his trade when I was old enough to understand what he was doing. Or that should be the other way around: it made me wish I were old enough to have watched him.

He was phenomenal. He rode his first winner when he was 12 and his last when he was 58. A sporting career that spanned 46 years — that number alone is incredible, never mind what he achieved in the middle, and all of that before the internet and mobile phones.

I don’t believe there is a good time to die, but if Lester were famous for his timing on a racehorse, I would suggest he timed things perfectly again by passing away on Derby week.

So, who wins the Derby being run in his memory? That’s a different topic altogether, and an answer from the great man would carry more weight than my opinion. But the more I look at it, the less of an idea I have.

Perhaps Michael Stoute can eke more improvement from the Dante winner Desert Crown, and Richard Kingscote’s name will be added to the Derby roll of honour. Maybe Ryan Moore has chosen correctly by picking Stone Age over Changingofhteguard or Star Of India.

William Buick could have done likewise by choosing Nations Pride instead of Walk Of Stars or Nahanni. Perhaps Donnacha O’Brien will get one up on Joseph and win the Derby with Piz Badile before his brother does? Or will an outsider triumph? I can’t decide and will instead watch in the hope of seeing a horse that I can say I saw!

It is the centrepiece of Saturday’s action, and Tramore concludes its jumps card 20 minutes before the Derby starts so those in the southeast can hang on and watch it if they like. Still, Listowel’s flat meeting runs alongside Epsom, and their seventh race is due to start seven minutes after the advertised Derby start time.

Gavin Ryan will be aboard Red Azalea in Listowel, making his way to the start as Piz Badile, under Frankie Dettori, runs down the hill at Epsom. It would have been a complicated watch for him, having lost the ride to Frankie, but I bet he would like to watch it, as will every horse racing fan.

Most would also watch a replay and digest the famous contest before their interests move on.

Streaming is becoming a key component of racecourse finances, but that requires lead-in time to attract attention.

With only Lingfield and Chepstow in the evening, Listowel could have drawn a lot more attention had it been given an evening slot to follow Epsom and had the opportunity to maximise its off-course income.

Saturday evening followed by Sunday afternoon in the Kingdom might have appealed to some on a bank holiday weekend if they fancied a night away too.