Lester Piggott was so competitive that it would have rankled that he never quite reached 5,000 winners.
He got close with 4,493 victories in a remarkable career that saw him crowned champion jockey 11 times. His name became synonymous with the Derby, which he won a record nine times, the tally part of a haul of 30 Classic successes.
But apart from his genius in the saddle, Piggott often, unwittingly, found himself in the limelight. Famous for his whispery mumble, his shyness meant he spent most of his career trying to dodge giving interviews – not easy for a sportsman who in the 1960s and 70s attracted a similar level of fame to Pele and Muhammad Ali.
