One of the all-time racing greats, a favourite of the Queen and housewives round the country, jockey Lester Piggott has died aged 86. He won the Derby a record nine times, 30 British Classic races and had 4,493 winners overall from his first victory aged 12.
Tall for a rider in flat racing at 5ft 8 inches, he spent much of his career on a punishing diet, heavy on champagne, cigars and constant saunas to keep his weight down to 8 st 5 lbs – about 30 lbs (14 kg) under his normal weight. Nothing got in the way of his ruthless desire to win – and make money. He was jailed for three years in 1987, being found guilty of tax fraud of more than £3m, though only served a year and returned to racing 12 days later to bag another winner in one of the world’s richest races. The Queen refused to cut off relations with him over his conviction.
He was born 5 November 1935 into a racing family and was slightly deaf with a minor speech impediment giving him a taciturn reputation.
He had a Scorpio Sun opposition Uranus so was super-determined and a maverick who’d go his own way. His Sun opposition Uranus formed a Half Grand Sextile to a tough-minded, disciplined and risk taking Mars in Capricorn and Saturn. He also had a confident/successful Pluto trine Jupiter in money-magnet Scorpio, sextile Venus in Virgo so he could turn on the charm when it suited him. His Mercury squared Pluto for a stubborn streak.
There’s a tentative time of 1 am but it doesn’t look right putting a chatty Sun in the 3rd.
One of the tales about his tax evasion was that he had reached an agreement with the Revenue that would have kept him out of prison. Then he wrote a cheque to pay the back taxes from a Cayman Island account he had sworn didn’t exist. Not sensible.
His get-it-together 5th Harmonic is exceptionally well aspected with a zippy Jupiter opposition Mars Mercury square Sun; and a tough-minded Saturn Pluto. As is his perfectionist 7H.
His rise-and-fall, wheel of fortune 10th harmonic which can be self-defeating is notable; as is his 9H which is attracted to money.
Also his Moon/Saturn conjunction sextiles is Uranus in his Natal Chart. This would make him enduring to women/public as they would enjoy his quickness and ability to pull off the unpredictable. .
I rectified his birth time to 7:56:45 AM, Asc 20Scorpio, containing 20 degrees of Sagittarius, horse racing.
https://i.postimg.cc/15QmqyJ3/Piggott-Rectified.jpg
I rectified his chart to 7:56:45 AM with Asc 20Scorpio. Part of his Asc contains Sagittarius, sign of horses.
This birth time is verified by looking at his last Lunar Return shown below, with
Piggott opposite natal 8th of death; LR Pluto, death significator on his 4th cusp, the grave; Uranus, ruler
4th of endings on his LR 8th cusp; LR Venus, ruler 8th of death, conjunct Descendant.
Prison time served is shown by natal Sun in 12th of prisons.
https://i.postimg.cc/fbC6PNND/Piggott-Last-Lunar-Return.jpg
Given his height it is quite amazing that he both managed to become a successful jockey and to sustain that career for so many decades. The fact Lester’ racing weight was 8 stone 5 lb meant he could not ride a proportion of the horses in handicaps where minimum weights for horse would have been as low as 7 stone 7 lb when he started out. That would have severely limited his available rides early on in his career. No time of birth but Jupiter ruler of horsey Sagittarius trine Pluto would have helped particularly as Saturn was in the other Jupiter ruled House of Pisces which would give him persistence. Saturn is ruler of the Capricorn which is also associated with the 10th House of career and the exalted Mars in that sign sextile Saturn would give him the drive and organisation to succeed.
Lester’s comeback at the age 54 to win the Breeders Cup Mile in 1990 on Royal Academy was perhaps his most remarkable achievement.
I knew some who raced years ago and they were tough. One, an amateur jockey who had even more trouble getting down to the weight, told me when I asked what his diet was that he had eaten an egg. I assumed that was for breakfast but that was all he ate for the day!
And then to ride and hang onto a galloping ton of horse-flesh yanking the jockey’s arms out when most of us would have been completely enfeebled is astonishing.
The steeplechase jockeys, who tended to collect more injuries, healed faster than anyone I have ever seen. A broken leg/arm? Three weeks later they were back out there.
I half guessed he might have a Sagittarius Ascendant on a 10 am birth time which would put Moon Saturn in the 3ed, Mars in the 2nd and Pluto in the 8th which might be feasible – though I’m normally wrong.
There is a nice photo of Queen Elizabeth II leading in her Oaks winner Carrozza at Epsom in 1957 with Lester Piggott in the saddle. It is rather poignant that he died in the week of the Royal Jubilee as they must have met many times over the subsequent decades.
Lester’s grandfather rode three Grand National winners and his father was a National Hunt jockey. One would have expected Lester to have been a jump rather than a flat jockey given his adult physique and background. I would imagine the fact he was riding professional winners from the age of 12 when he was still under 5 foot tall and weighed in at under 6 stone must have helped get his career off the ground in flat racing. He always sailed close to the wind both on and off the track getting quite a few bans in his early years. His obsession with money was his Achilles heel though he always denied it was sending a cheque to the Inland Revenue from his undeclared bank account that was the cause of his downfall.
I was only reading about Piggott a few weeks ago in Harding and Harvey’s book – they highlight his 5th harmonic as indicative of his courageous, all-in riding style and his 7th for his luck and good fortune.
Thanks have added a note.