'Unflinching courage' and controversy: Lester Piggott's nine Derby victories

No race did more to build the legend of Lester Piggott, the man and the myth, than the Derby.

For three decades, people who watched just one Flat race a year knew that he was the man to beat. Huge numbers queued in betting shops nationwide to back him.

Nine times they returned to collect their winnings as the rider who was always at his best when it mattered most came out on top.

Piggott became notorious for the way he managed to manoeuvre his way on to a fancied horse in the build up to the race but he was even more famous for the way he delivered on the day.

There is no greater test of jockeyship than Epsom’s roller-coaster switchback with an adverse camber and countless booby traps for the unwary.

Yet from teenager to fortysomething he conquered it like no one has before or since – the second most successful riders in Derby history trail in his wake rather as his rivals often did on the day.

Never Say Die (1954)

Piggott’s first Derby winner was also the least heralded. No American-bred colt had won the race since 1881 and Never Say Die did not look the sort to end the drought, having won just once in nine outings.

He started at 33-1 and contemporary reports suggest he would have been an even longer price but for support from those intrigued by the publicity his 18-year-old rider had already attracted.

Never Say Die and Lester Piggott after winning the DerbyCredit: Barratts

Those punters were handsomely rewarded as the teenage sensation had Never Say Die perfectly placed throughout, led early in the straight and won by a ready two lengths.

But the story of the youngest jockey to win the Derby had an unhappy sequel as Piggott was banned for six months for his riding of the colt in a rough race for the King Edward VII Stakes and had to watch Charlie Smirke steer him to a record 12-length win in the St Leger at Doncaster.

Crepello (1957)

While Never Say Die was an outsider, Crepello was a red-hot favourite. And no wonder.

He had followed up his Dewhurst Stakes success the previous autumn by landing the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket, where Piggott was seen at his best as he defied a bad draw by switching to the stands’ rail.

The jockey was never one to let the pressure of expectation weigh him down and he delivered in fine style, quickening past eight runners in the final quarter of a mile to complete a Classic double and win in the quickest time since 1936.

There were two sad postscripts to the race. Crepello’s delicate tendons forced him into retirement before the St Leger – which was won by the Epsom runner-up Ballymoss.

And Piggott drove the Lincoln Continental that owner Sir Victor Sassoon gave him as a present into the back of another car and sold it as "more trouble than it was worth".

St Paddy (1960)

There was no car trouble in 1960, when Sassoon went to Epsom as the owner and breeder of St Paddy, a colt by the Queen’s Derby runner-up Aureole.

Although unplaced in the 2,000 Guineas, he stamped himself an obvious contender for Classic glory winning the Dante Stakes at York.

And the 7-1 chance got another textbook Derby ride, in front three furlongs from home and scoring by three lengths under a jockey who always felt his mount was underrated and said later: "I never asked him a serious question, yet he won with complete ease."

It was the same story at Doncaster in September as Piggott’s third Derby winner went on to give him his first St Leger, scoring by an easy three lengths once again.

Further success followed in 1961 and St Paddy narrowly failed to break Ballymoss’s record for earnings by a British-trained horse, but sadness intruded once more as Sassoon died soon after the colt’s second place in the King George at Ascot.

Sir Ivor (1968)

Wednesday May 29, 1968 was a special day in British sporting history. Manchester United became the first English winners of the European Cup when beating Benfica 4-1 at Wembley that night – but something just as spectacular 30 miles away had transfixed television viewers that same afternoon.

Sir Ivor combined the brilliance and style of George Best and Bobby Charlton as he became the first colt bought at auction in the USA to win the Derby.

Sir Ivor races to victory in the 1968 Derby. 'The best I have ridden,' said Lester PiggottCredit: Express Newspapers

The colt snapped up for $84,000 by Vincent O'Brien had already vindicated his legendary trainer's judgment by landing the 2,000 Guineas and he started 4-5 favourite at Epsom.

Odds-on backers were made to sweat as Connaught went clear while he was briefly trapped on the rail, but Piggott was unconcerned and conjured an electrifying burst out of his mount, who powered clear for a length-and-a-half win.

After the race the jockey hailed Sir Ivor as "the best I have ridden," his only regret the fact that owner Raymond Guest could not be present due to duties as American ambassador to Ireland.

Nijinsky (1970)

No horse is more associated with Piggott than the brilliant Nijinsky, who had the grace and power of the ballet legend who inspired his name and came along at the height of the jockey's hugely successful time with Vincent O'Brien.

Nijinsky and Lester Piggott after winning the 1970 Derby

The trainer had seen potential in the colt he advised owner Charles Engelhard to pay a Canadian record for as a yearling and was proved spot on as he landed the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket.

Yet that was just a warm-up as Nijinsky and Piggott scorched to victory in the Derby, bettering Crepello's time as he strode two and a half lengths clear – an eve-of-race bout of colic that troubled him more than any rival at Epsom did.

The jockey said he was "always cantering" and his mount won the King George at Ascot even more easily before following up in the St Leger at Doncaster to become the first – and only – Triple Crown winner since 1935.

Roberto (1972)

None of Piggott's Derby winners was more controversial than Roberto, whose success was less than universally acclaimed by the crowd and was a real kick in the backside for Bill Williamson.

Although the Australian rider, on board when the colt was second in the 2,000 Guineas, declared himself fit after a shoulder injury, he was "jocked off" 48 hours before Epsom by American owner John Galbreath in favour of Piggott, who switched from outsider Manitoulin.

"The owner could surely be allowed to be uncompromising in wanting to get his horse the best ride possible for the most important race of his life," Piggott reasoned later – and it needed a jockey firing on all cylinders to get Roberto home.

His record-equalling sixth Epsom triumph was his hardest fought as he drove the 3-1 favourite to the narrowest of wins over the valiant Rheingold, riding with a vigour that would make a mockery of the modern-day whip rules and surviving a 20-minute stewards' inquiry.

His appreciative American owner said: "For many years, I thought Eddie Arcaro and Braulio Baeza were the two best jockeys in all the world, but after this performance right here I think Lester Piggott is right up there with them."

Empery (1976)

Piggott wrote Jem Robinson and Steve Donoghue out of the record books with a seventh Derby win 25 years on from his first ride in the race at the age of 15 in 1951.

It was also the 25th anniversary of Nelson Bunker Hunt's wedding – sadly for the millionaire oilman, his wife had arranged a huge party at home in Dallas and he could not be at Epsom for perhaps his greatest triumph as an owner.

The jockey himself had not been particularly hopeful of his chances on the French-trained Empery, a 10-1 shot, and admitted later he did not expect to beat hot favourite Wollow.

Yet the 2,000 Guineas winner failed to stay the trip at Epsom, like so many before and since, and Piggott took full advantage, moving into fourth place rounding Tattenham Corner in trademark style and hitting the front a furlong out for a three-length win.

The Minstrel (1977)

As ever, in the build-up to the 1977 Derby getting on the right horse mattered as much for Piggott as getting it home in front on the day.

The Minstrel had been far from certain to head to Epsom after disappointing defeats in the 2,000 Guineas and its Irish equivalent, yet his jockey persuaded O'Brien and owner Robert Sangster to take a chance – "I told Robert 'If you run him, I'll ride him. On decent ground, he'll win'" he recalled later.

Lester Piggott on The Minstrel after winning the 1977 Derby

Piggott switched from Hot Grove and was vindicated on Derby day as his mount – fitted with cotton wool in his ears to help keep him calm beforehand – responded valiantly to his urgings and got the better of the colt he had discarded to score by a battling neck.

"No horse I ever rode showed more unflinching courage in a finish than The Minstrel did that day," the jockey said.

Teenoso (1983)

Relying on Lester Piggott to find the Derby winner was never a bad system and it worked perfectly in 1983, when trainer Henry Cecil had no contender for him to ride.

The champion jockey had to look elsewhere and chose Teenoso, the Geoff Wragg-trained Lingfield Derby Trial winner whose partner Steve Cauthen was required by Barry Hills at Epsom.

The weather may well have influenced his choice as the late-maturing stayer had shown he handled soft ground and conditions on Derby day certainly favoured mudlarks – stamina trumped speed in a race won in the slowest time recorded in the 20th century.

Teenoso was backed in to 9-2 favourite, ahead of flashier rivals, and the cliched "housewives' choice" proved spot on as he lit up a grey day with a comfortable three-length win.

"Teenoso might not have been my classiest Derby winner but he was certainly my easiest," Piggott wrote subsequently.

Lester Piggott:

Lester Piggott, legendary jockey and nine-time Derby winner, dies aged 86

Obituary: child prodigy who blossomed into a riding legend and statesman

The remarkable facts and figures behind Lester Piggott's career

In his own words: 'It was quite a bad punishment, wasn't it? It was almost inhumane'

Lester Piggott Q&A: a brilliant interview with the record-breaking champion

Appreciation: 'His cut-throat mentality was unmatched in the history of the turf'