Racing legend Piggott may be gone but his spirit lives on and he remains a legend

When one thinks about the death this week of Lester Piggott – perhaps the most successful horse racing jockey in history – there is a simple question: Will we ever see the likes of him again?

Horse racing is still a massive global industry, with many talented trainers and jockeys but, in the age of the internet, will it ever deliver up tabloid heroes like Piggott?

Apprenticed in his teens, he spent his entire life on severe diets to keep his weight competitive – he was known as the “Long Fellow” – but went on to ride 4 493 winners in Britain and more than 850 elsewhere.

ALSO READ: When Lester Piggott stunned Scottsville – and when he grabbed Dettori’s ‘crown jewels’

He was a hard man and fanatical about money, to the extent he was found guilt of tax evasion in the UK in the 1980s and did a year in prison, losing his Order of the British Empire award in the process.

Yet his fierce determination to win – even going as far as pressuring owners into taking away horses from other jockeys – set him apart.

And, as our racing writer Mike Moon reports on our pages on today, one of the rides he remembers most was at Scottsville in Pietermaritzburg.

Lester Piggott may be gone, but the legend remains.