Legendary jockey Lester Piggott had a statue unveiled at Royal Ascot this morning in his honour.
Epsom Downs was the first racecourse to reveal one of nine life-size Lester Piggott statues on Derby Day earlier this month and the statues will be located at courses around the country, sculpted by William Newton. These have been created in celebration of champion jockey Lester Piggott's astonishing nine Derby wins, 65 years since his first on Never Say Die (1954).
Piggott recorded a record 116 victories at Royal Ascot. His first win came at the meeting in the 1952 Wokingham aboard the Walter Nightingall-trained Malka's Boy. "The Longfellow" won the Gold Cup a record 11 times, which included three successive victories aboard Sagaro (1975, 1976, 1977).
Speaking at the unveiling, Piggott said: "It is a fantastic statue and it has a great likeness to me - William has done a very good job with it.
"I have enjoyed some great days at Royal Ascot. Everybody looked forward to this meeting. To win the Gold Cup once is special and I was very lucky to win the race on 10 occasions.
"I rode some brilliant horses in the race including Sagaro, but probably the best was a filly called Gladness. It has been a very lucky course for me."