Steve Cauthen, himself one of the greatest jockeys of all time, recalls his skirmishes with the legendary Lester Piggott, the rival who became a friend
The year after becoming the youngest jockey to win the Triple Crown on Affirmed in 1978, Steve Cauthen moved to Britain to continue his career. The ‘Kentucky Kid’ entered an environment in which Lester Piggott was top dog, a fierce competitor as much off the track as on it owing to his reputation for trying to get on other jockey’s rides.
There was no quarter given at the start but by the end of Cauthen’s 13-year stay, having been three times champion jockey in that period, there was a mutual respect and friendship between the two. Cauthen, a dual Derby winner at Epsom on Slip Anchor and Reference Point, remembers his ultimate opponent.
Lester Piggott was one of the greats of all time and he was a guy I admired, even when I felt like he was giving me a hard time. I still had great respect for him and admired his talent.
He was a great judge of a horse; that was one of his key successes. He knew which ones were the best and he made a point of getting on them. He would call the owner and say: ‘I wanna ride your horse, it’s going to win next time, if I ride it!’
He was ruthless but that was the way it was. He ruled the roost for a long, long time. He rode some great horses and rode them very well.
I knew of Lester because he had come over to ride a couple of times in the US. He rode Exceller in the Washington DC International which I won on Johnny D and I think he came back and rode him at Belmont and I won again. I’d seen him enough to say ‘Hi’ to, but obviously he didn’t have a lot to say! He was weighing you up and checking you out.
So I knew his reputation. This was also around the time of The Minstrel and Alleged when I started to realise who he was. He rode a lot for Robert Sangster and Vincent O’Brien.
When I first came over to England I felt like he was going to try to run roughshod over me but when he knew I wasn’t going to stand for it anymore he backed off.
When I joined Henry Cecil and Lester went freelance he still got a lot of the best rides, especially in the big races like the Derby. It was not like he was struggling at all.
There was only one occasion early on where Barry Hills had to take me off Cracaval because the owner wanted Lester but Henry never took me off a horse. I was the number one jockey and I was winning everything so there was no reason. I’m sure Lester tried.
One of the horses he did take off me, but that was because I had to ride for my stable, was Teenoso. I was riding him and then Lester realised he was one of the horses to beat and got on him as soon as I couldn’t ride. He was very tied in with all the different owners and he knew how to persuade them to let him do it.
There are so many stories about the things he did. I remember Jimmy Lindley saying he gave him a lift to France one day on his plane and Lester went back and took the plane back home, leaving Jimmy over in France.
But I also heard about many things he did behind the scenes to help people. He was one of those guys who didn’t necessarily want you to know how he ticked.
I feel blessed that when I was here in America I was riding against Shoemaker, Pincay, Cordero, Velazquez, Maple. It was a great jockey colony and when I went to England it was another prime time with Pat Eddery, Swinburn, Piggott and Carson. And then in France there were Saint-Martin and Freddie Head.
There was a lot of competition. But when Lester was on a good horse he was always the guy to beat. He was masterful at figuring out how to win big races.
One of my first exciting and thrilling wins against him was in the 1985 1,000 Guineas when there was a nostril between Oh So Sharp and Al Bahathri and another nostril to Lester’s mount Bella Colora.
But one of the most spectacular things I can remember was when he came out of retirement, having done a stint in prison, and within two weeks he went over and won the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Royal Academy.
What an amazing feat – by then he was 54. He had that desire and will to win, and he had it more than most.
We weren’t buddies in the beginning but we became buddies in the end. I think we had a high regard for each other’s ability and determination. Later on we became very friendly and had a lot of nice chats. It was a good way to end our time.
• Steve Cauthen was speaking to Jon Lees
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