FANS LOVED LESTER FOR WINNING AT ALL COSTS

TO racing, Lester Piggott was what Muhammad Ali was to boxing, what Jack Nicklaus was to golf, what Pele was to football.

That is no exaggeration. There were millions of people who did not care a jot about the sport of kings but knew the name of the greatest-ever jockey.

It might be something of a cliche but Piggott (above) transcended his sport.

For someone so steeped in the often impenetrable culture of horse racing, Lester pulled off the trick of being a man of the people.

Not in the same way that Frankie Dettori has, not through charisma, not through becoming a media personality.

But because his win-at-all-costs brilliance became the stuff of legend in smoky bookies’ shops up and down the land.

He might have been known as the ‘Housewives’ Favourite’ because his fame meant he would attract the occasional, big-race better (there’s a bit of old chauvinism for you).

But he was the punters’ favourite because you knew he would stop at nothing to get his horse across the line ahead of the rest. Let’s face it, anyone riding now in the manner of Piggott in his prime would see more of the stewards than they did of their families.

A personal abiding memory is of Piggott getting The Minstrel up to win the 1977 Derby.

That one of the phrases associated with his method was ‘rat-a-tat’ gives you a hint that he was not one to use the whip sparingly.

But he was a horseman like no other. No matter what your level of expertise, you could pick out Piggott in any race.

He was unique.

He was ruthless – there was no weighing room colleague he would not try to nick the ride from – and he was flawed, which made him even more intriguing.

We all believed he existed on a diet of champagne and cigars and would sell his own granny for another winner.

Some of that type of stuff was probably true, some probably urban myth.

But one thing is for sure, they broke the mould when they made Lester Piggott – a giant of racing, a giant of sport.