Legendary jockey and former Lambourn boy jockey Lester Piggott dies

Legendary jockey and former Lambourn boy jockey Lester Piggott, who won the Derby nine times, has died at the age of 86.

Mr Piggott rode 4,493 winners over a 50-year career.

His son-in-law, Derby-winning trainer William Haggas, said: "Sadly we can confirm that Lester died peacefully in Switzerland this morning."

Mr Piggott was born in Wantage, then part of Berkshire, in 1935, into a racing family.

His grandfather owned a racehorse stable in Letcombe Regis, while his father owned a stables at South Bank in Lambourn, where Mr Piggott lived until 1954.

Mr Piggott's first winner was at Haydock in 1948, aged just 12, and his last was on the same course in 1994, just before his 59th birthday.

He retired in 1995.

During his remarkable career, he was crowned champion jockey 11 times between 1960 and 1982 and scored a record 30 British Classic wins.

At 5ft 8ins, Mr Piggott - known as 'The Long Fellow' - was tall for a jockey and kept himself 14kg under his natural weight in order to compete.

He was inducted into the British Champions Series Hall of Fame last year.