EPSOM DOWNS, England — At the heart of Epsom’s Derby Day on Saturday (June 1), The queen unveiled a statue of Derby icon Lester Piggott.

This will be the first unveiling of a set of nine life-sized statues of the legendary jockey at various racecourses around the country, to celebrate the 65th anniversary of his first Derby win.

Piggott won the Derby on a record nine different occasions — from his 1954 win on Never Say Die aged only 18, to a win on Teenoso in 1983.

The queen has been present at Epsom Downs for all nine of Piggott’s Derby wins — the jockey even riding an Oaks winner for Her Majesty in the 1957 Derby Meeting, Carrozza.

Piggott was born in Wantage in 1935, into a family that could trace its jockey history back to the 18th century.

Piggott said of the Derby: “[It] has always been the most important race in England. It attracts the best thoroughbreds, and it has been my good fortune to win it a few times on some great horses.”

The Epsom Downs Racecourse is delighted to be presenting their biggest winner with such an accolade, with General Manager Simon Durrant saying: “We already have the Piggott Gates with their great Peter O’Sullivan tribute to ‘the iconoclast who became an icon’, but to have a life-size statue of the man who dominated Epsom like no other will be a special bonus.”