Graham Buddry remembers Royal Academy’s greatest race which brought a fitting finale for Lester Piggott

YESTERDAY’S HEROES
Graham Buddry

Lester Piggott

By any standards Lester Piggott was a colossus of the racing world, yet for all he achieved at the height of his success and powers, it was a later event which would go down in history as his defining moment.
Piggott won an astounding 30 English Classics, including nine victories in the Derby, the first as a teenager in 1954. Eleven times champion jockey in an era where there were a whole host of exceptionally talented riders ...