Was Lester Piggott knighted?

Unquestionably the most famous jockey of his generation, Lester Piggott rode 4,493 winners on the Flat, plus another 20 over hurdles, and won the Flat Jockeys’ Championship 11 times, in 1960, 1964–71, and 1981–82. He rode an unprecedented 30 English Classic winners, including a record nine Derby winners, and famously won the English Triple Crown on Nijinsky in 1970.

Piggott was never knighted but, in 1975, was created an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to horse racing. He retired from race riding, for the first time, in 1985 and switched his attention to training, with no little success. However, in October, 1987, Piggott was prosecuted and found guilty of personal tax fraud after failing to declare income of £3.25 million to the Inland Revenue. He was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment – at the time, the most severe sentence in British history – of which he served one year before being released on parole, in October, 1988. During his time in prison, Piggott was stripped of his OBE.

Piggott returned to race riding in October, 1990, famously winning the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Belmont Park, New York on Royal Academy 12 days later. He also won his thirtieth and final English Classic, the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket, on Rodrigo De Triano, in 1992 before retiring for good in September, 1995.

 

 

How much prize money did Enable earn during her career?

At the time of her retirement in October, 2020, shortly after her unsuccessful attempt to win the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe for a third time, Enable had amassed £10.7 million in prize money, thereby setting a record for a European-trained horse. At that stage, jockey Frankie Dettori, who rode her on all bar two of her 19 starts, hailed her as ‘one of the greatest mares of our generation’.

However, according to Timeform, Enable recorded her best performance ever when winning the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, held at Chantilly that year, in 2017. The Timeform rating of 134 she achieved on that occasion was the highest by any British-trained filly in over 30 years, but fell 6lb short of the rating of 140 required for her to be considered one of the ‘greats’ of the Timeform era.

Nonetheless, victory in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe was the first by a three-year-old filly trained in Britain or Ireland and rounded off a trailblazing season in which Enable also won the Oaks, Irish Oaks, Yorkshire Oaks and King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Enable was, unsurprisingly, named Cartier Horse of the Year in 2017, as she was in 2019, when winning the Coral-Eclipse, Yorkshire Oaks and King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes. In 2018, she became the first and, so far, only horse to win the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and Breeders’ Cup Turf in the same season.

How many times did Bill Shoemaker win the American Triple Crown?

 

William Lee ‘Bill’ Shoemaker, a.k.a. ‘The Shoe’, rode his first winner on April 20, 1949 and his last on January 20, 1990. On September 7, 1970, Shoemaker broke the world record for winners ridden by a professional jockey, 6,032, set by English-born Johnny Longden four years earlier. Indeed, at the time of his retirement, Shoemaker had amassed 8,833 career winners, thereby setting a record that would stand until December 10, 1999, when broken by Panamanian-born Laffit Pincay Jr.. Pincay Jr.’s record has since been beaten, nay obliterated, by Canadian-born Russell Baze and, subsequently, by Brazilian-born Jorge Ricardo. Even so, three decades after his retirement from the saddle, Shoemaker remains the fourth most prolific jockey in horse racing history.

However, for all his success, it may come as a surprise to read that Shoemaker never won the American Triple Crown. He won each of the individual Triple Crown races – namely the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes – more than once, but never all three races in the same season. In fact, the closest Shoemaker came to doing so was aboard Damascus who, in 1967, finished third behind Proud Clarion in the Kentucky Derby before winning the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes. All told, Shoemaker won the Belmont Stakes five times, in 1957, 1959, 1962, 1967 and 1975, Kentucky Derby four times, in 1955, 1959, 1965 and 1986 and Preakness Stakes twice, in 1963 and 1967.

Can You Win Betting Odds-On?

While many gamblers shy away from betting odds-on others consider them a sure-fire winner.

The term: ‘Buying money comes to mind’.

Are you a favourites man?

I must admit, I’ve bet odds on bets infrequently. Although the chance of the given horse winning is statically greater a short price always brings concerns. For example, betting at odds of ½ favourite sees a wager of £100 to win £50. With stake money a return of £150. As they say: ‘Not too much bang for your buck.’

My speciality of betting two-year-old race horses has given a greater insight to the pros and cons of betting at such short odds.

For the everyday punter, there is little point in betting a score to win a cockle (£20 to win £10). So, perhaps, the big bettors only come out to play when they jolly is backed to prohibited odds. If you bet odds on and make money you’re doing something right. If you are losing and chasing your losses, you don’t need me to finish this sentence…

The best thing about betting odds on is that you have the confidence of the market on your side. If you could look at the bookmaker’s book you would see that about 70% of all money bet on the given race is placed on the favourite. However, it doesn’t mean your selection is guaranteed to win. From my studies, when a horse is priced ¼ it is very hard to beat. So it should be if you have bet £8,000 to win £2,000.

It’s all fine and dandy as long as the horse wins.

It’s like taking money from a bookmaker.

The trouble starts when you have a loser. If you have a few quid in the betting bank you may be able to withstand the odd loser. If you’re in the red, you may find you struggle to ever get back in profit.

There is an assumption that if you bet big money (a few grand a time) that all you need to do is bet odds on shots and you are laughing all the way to the bank. This is simply an old wives tale. If you specialise betting odds ons you need to be very selective and have a skill set and knowledge which means you can pick between the good, bad and ugly bets.

With regard to two-year-old betting, you are much more likely to bet an odds on winner second start, while debutantes are often a recipe for disaster. Also, a horse with a string placed efforts is a worrying sign for odds on backers.

I’d leave well alone.

If it seems a good idea to make easy money you are in for a shock.

As ex-professional gambler Dave Nevison said: ‘There’s no easy money.’

Those words are most fotting for those who love to bet odds on.

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