Did Lester Piggott ever win the Irish 2,000 Guineas?

The short answer is yes, he did, not once, but three times in all. The late Lester Piggott, who died on May 29, 2022, aged 86, will likely always be best remembered for his unprecedented 30 English Classic wins. Between 1954 and 1992, “The Long Fellow” won the Derby nine times, the St. Leger eight times, the Oaks six times, the 2,000 Guineas five times and the 1,000 Guineas twice, thereby setting a record that may never be broken.

Piggott rode 4,493 winners on the Flat in Britain, plus an estimated 800 or so more worldwide and, unlike his illustrious predecessor Sir Gordon Richards, was no stranger to Classic success on the other side of the Irish Sea. He won the Irish Derby five times, on Meadow Court (1965), Ribocco (1967), Ribero (1968), The Minstrel (1977) and Shergar (1981), the Irish Oaks and the Irish St. Leger three times apiece, on Santa Tina (1970), Juliette Marny (1975) and Godetia (1979) and Dan Kano (1967), Caucasus (1975), Meneval (1976), respectively, and the Irish 1,000 Guineas twice, Favoletta (1971) on Godetia (1979).

His career total of 16 Irish Classic wins was completed by Decies (1970), Jaazeiro (1978) and Rodrigo de Triano (1992) in the Irish 2,000 Guineas. The last named was not quite Piggot’s last Classic winner anywhere; he went on to win the Slovenske Derby in Bratislava, Slovakia on Zimzalabim, trained by Barry Hills, before retiring for the second and final time in 1995.