Frankie Dettori’s 449/1 four-timer on Gold Cup day on Thursday is a rare feat and has not been achieved since 1965 by the legendary Lester Piggott.
Two of Piggott’s winners came in the same races as Dettori – the New Stakes (now the Norfolk Stakes) with Tin King and in the Gold Cup on board Fighting Charlie.
Piggott also won the Chesham Stakes on Swift Harmony and the King George V Handicap on Brave Knight.
Unsurprisingly, Piggott won that year’s top jockey award having ridden eight winners in total.
Epsom Downs was the first racecourse to reveal one of nine life-size Lester Piggott statues on Derby Day earlier this month and the statues will be located at courses around the country, sculpted by William Newton.
The statue at Royal Ascot was unveiled on Tuesday morning prior to the commencement of the festival.
These have been created in celebration of champion jockey Lester Piggott’s astonishing nine Derby wins, 65 years since his first on Never Say Die (1954).
Piggott recorded a record 116 victories at Royal Ascot. His first win came at the meeting in the 1952 Wokingham aboard the Walter Nightingall-trained Malka’s Boy. “The Longfellow” won the Gold Cup a record 11 times, which included three successive victories aboard Sagaro (1975, 1976, 1977).
After Thursday’s achievements, Dettori could repeat Piggott’s feat as he is leading this year’s jockeys’ table.
Dettori has been leading jockey at Royal Ascot five times, but has not captured the QIPCO Leading Jockey Award since 2004. His first title was won in 1997 with four winners, while his best Royal Ascot came in 1998 with seven successes.
The most winners ridden at the Royal Meeting is a record that was created in 1878 by the 13-time Champion jockey Fred Archer – he won 12 races from 24 rides, including riding an amazing five winners on the Wednesday*. He beat Nat Flatman’s 1847 previous record of 11. The Royal Meeting was a four-day meeting until 2002.
The modern-day record is held by Moore, who won nine races in 2015. The previous best was eight, a total achieved by Piggott in 1965 and 1975, and Pat Eddery in 1989.
Frankie’s carded rides today:
15:30 Chesham Stakes (L) Rose Of Kildare 25/1
16:05 Jersey Stakes (G3) Marie’s Diamond 16/1
16:40 Hardwicke Stakes (G2) Lah Ti Dar 6/1
17:20 Diamond Jubilee Stakes (G1) Emblazoned 25/1
18:00 Wokingham Heritage Handicap Danzeno 8/1
18:35 Queen Alexandra Stakes Corelli 5/1
