(Reuters) – Former champion jockey Lester Piggott, who won the Epsom Derby nine times and was widely considered one of the greatest riders of all time, has died at the age of 86, his family said yesterday.
Piggott had gone into hospital in Switzerland last week.
“Sadly we can confirm that Lester died peacefully in Switzerland this morning,” Piggott’s son-in-law, William Haggas, was quoted as saying.
“I really don’t wish to add much more than that at this stage, although Maureen (Piggott’s daughter) will be making a statement later.”
Piggott began racing horses aged 10 and went on to accumulate more than 4,000 victories in a storied career during which he was crowned British champion jockey a remarkable 11 times.
He was an awarded an OBE in 1975 but was later stripped of the honour after being convicted of tax fraud in 1987 and sentenced to three years in jail.
