The late Lester Piggott, who died in Switzerland on May 29, 2022, aged 86, rode a total of 4,493 winners in Britain, including a record 30 Classic winners. However, the man affectionately known as ‘The Long Fellow’ does not hold the record for winners of the St. Leger. That distinction belongs to William ‘Bill’ Scott, who rode nine winners of the Doncaster Classic in the first half of the nineteenth century, although Piggott was arguably unlucky not to equal the record. In 1954, Piggott won the Derby on Never Say Die, trained by Joseph Lawson, but was subsequently suspended for six months for his riding of the same horse in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot. In his absence, Never Say Die won the St. Leger by a record 12 lengths under Charlie Smirke.
Notwithstanding the one that got away, Piggott rode eight winners of the St. Leger, namely St. Paddy (1960), Aurelius (1961), Ribocco (1967), Ribero (1968), Nijinsky (1970), Athens Wood (1971), Boucher (1972) and Commanche Run (1984). Of course, Nijinsky was the last horse to complete the British Triple Crown.
Perhaps the most memorable of the eight winners, though, was the last, Commanche Run, trained by Luca Cumani, in 1984. Piggott had replaced Cumani’s stable jockey, Darrel McHargue, who was suspended, on Commanche Run when winning the Gordon Stakes at Goodwood earlier in the season and, controversially, did so again, at the behest of owner Ivan Allen, in the St. Leger. Sent off 7/4 favourite in a field of eleven, Commanche Run took up the running plenty soon enough, with over half a mile to run, but stayed on bravely to win by a neck, therby giving Piggott the Classic winner he needed to beat the previous record, 27, set by Frank Buckle in 1827.