Piggott returns to scene of Nijinsky glory 40 years after Triple Crown

Yet, when he describes Nijinsky as "brilliant" and "every bit as good as Sea The Stars", last year's record-breaking equine hero, people in racing listen.

And they will today when Piggott – such a genius that his name needs no introduction because it transcends all sport – returns to Doncaster, the scene of Nijinsky's finest hour and a defining moment in the incomparable rider's career.

Now 74, racing's illustrious ambassador is guest of honour at the inaugural Leger Legends Day that is raising funds for the Northern Racing College and Injured Jockeys Fund.

A minor heart ailment means he will not be racing former weighing room colleagues in a special one mile race. With mock humour, he says he would have won – and who would doubt the man who won more blue riband Classics than any other rider in history.

Today's visit will also celebrate the 40th anniversary of the mercurial Nijinsky winning the fabled Triple Crown – the 2000 Guineas, Epsom Derby and Doncaster St Leger in the same season.

No colt had won this feat since the mighty Barham in 1935. And no horse has done since Nijinsky galloped into the history books and became the eighth horse to win, in Flat racing terms, legendary status.

Piggott, speaking exclusively to the Yorkshire Post, has an intriguing theory why this is so.

"The 'Triple Crown' meant far more then than it does now," he said. "Today, because of stud value, it is all about the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in early October.

"Winning the Leger, it was special – he was a fantastic horse and we won easy that day – but I'm certain it cost him the Arc.

"He was as good as Sea The Stars, who could have won the Triple Crown last year, but he didn't because the Arc was their target."

His great friend Sir Peter O'Sullevan concurs. The retired commentator, who will join Piggott on Town Moor, says there are "too many alternative temptations".

Though O'Sullevan believes the breathtaking manner of Nijinsky's wins eclipses the manner that saw Sea The Stars win six Group One races last year, he hopes the Triple Crown will be won in the near future.

He is certain that the three Classics was the objective of connections of St Nicholas Abbey, last year's Racing Post Trophy winner, if the horse's form had held through the winter. "I'm a great supporter of tradition," he adds.

Nijinksy, sired by the great stallion Northern Dancer, was purchased in 1968 in Canada for $84,000 by American minerals tycoon Charles W Engelhard and sent to Ireland's world-famous Ballydoyle stables to be trained by Vincent O'Brien.

Even as a yearling, he had real presence – and Engelhard's yellow and green colours, with a red sash – soon became synonymous with greatness as Nijinsky won the 2,000 Guineas over Newmarket's straight mile, and then the Epsom Derby's one-and-a-half miles of undulations to set up the Triple Crown bid.

Piggott had a reputation for being over-forceful in the saddle, never more so than when brute force galvanised The Minstrel to win the 1977 Derby.

Yet he was also the most sensitive, and sympathetic, of horsemen. He said Nijinsky was of nervous disposition – "he became more so as his career went on" – and that his job was simply to cajole the horse.

Horse and rider in unison were witnessed, to electrifying effect, in the 1970 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes that he won without coming off the bridle. "This is a one horse race," said O'Sullevan, who was commentating for the BBC.

Yet, even as Nijinsky lit up a sporting summer that had been dimmed by England's World Cup winners losing their crown in South America, the Triple Crown was far from a certainty.

While the astute O'Brien did not favour the St Leger as Nijinsky's Arc preparation race, and wanted to consider less gruelling options, the owner was determined. Engelhard's health was fading, he would die the following year aged 54, and he was conscious about his place in history.

If that was no enough, Nijinsky developed ringworm after his King George win – Piggott says this performance was more impressive than Harbinger's eyecatching triumph in the same race earlier this summer.

It was a particularly nasty condition that saw most of the horse's hair fall out and drain him of energy.

But, while Piggott acknowledges "the gleam in his eye was a little dimmed when he arrived at Doncaster", the pre-race dramas had yet to run their course.

In the race before the St Leger, Piggott rode the Engelhard-owned Leander who stumbled at the start and left his unamused rider on the turf, with his immaculate white breeches covered by grass strains.

Piggott's mood did not improve when he was immediately surrounded by police officers. He can laugh now, though.

"Half a dozen of them emerged from the trees and asked where I had been shot," he said. "They didn't tell me the full story until after the St Leger, thankfully, but they had been keeping an eye on me because an inmate had escaped from Rampton (the mental institution), phoned the course and threatened to kill me.

"I was more bothered about the Leger."

Given this extraordinary event, the St Leger itself was remarkably incident-free. For once, Nijinsky had not sweated profusely before the race – and Piggott, the personification of calmness, was able to bide his time as the field turned into the long, galloping straight.

"With its long straight, Doncaster is no place for a horse with suspect stamina," explained the jockey when asked to divulge his tactics. "I remember I did not want to get to the front too soon, but after the three-furlong marker, I asked Nijinsky to move up and hit the front with 300 yards to go... Forty years ago? It seems like yesterday."

The winning margin of a length over Meadowville does not explain the ease at which Nijinsky won; Piggott, sitting motionless on the horse, did not want to over-exert his colt.

Incredibly, this was Piggott's fourth English Classic win in 1970 – only the Oaks eluded the maestro. Nijinsky's record was now 11 wins from 11 starts.

Sadly, Nijinsky never won another race. Beaten by a whisker in the Arc after encountering traffic problems – critics maintain Piggott left the horse with too much to do while the jockey says the pre-race attention in the paddock was unnerving – the horse's final race, Newmarket's Champion Stakes, also ended in failure.

He did, though, have a highly lucrative stud career before he was put down in 1992.

The softer side of Piggott's demeanour, a characteristic that he rarely showed in public, is evident when he says: "It's a shame he didn't win another race; he deserved to go out on a high."

Unlike Nijinsky, Piggott did win another race – thousands of them – in a remarkable career that began in 1948, when he rode his first winner at the age of 12, and ended 4,493 victories later in 1994 after a daring and successful comeback following his well-documented disagreement with the taxman that cost the jockey his liberty, and a deserved Knighthood.

It is hard to think of any competitor who has dominated their sport to such an extent over a 45-year period.

Piggott says he always liked racing in Yorkshire "because the crowds were so knowledgable".

It was, perhaps, fitting that he should be beat Frank Buckle's longstanding record for Classic winners in the 1984 St Leger when Commanche Run held off Baynoun following a protracted struggle between Piggott and the brilliant American jockey Steve Cauthen.

This was Piggott at his strongest in the saddle – and off the course where, so typically, he had somehow managed to come to an arrangement with the horse's owners that he would replace the horse's regular rider Darrel McHague.

It invariably made Piggott unpopular. He did not mind, however. Looking back, he says: "You have to be on the best horse."

He went on: "I do recall the crowd cheering and saying afterwards 'I didn't realise they cared so much'."

Piggott, who clearly enjoys his new-found status as a racing ambassador, says he "cannot wait" to return to Yorkshire today.

The white rose county, he says, means much to him. His longstanding wife Susan was the daughter of Middleham trainer Sam Armstrong.

The jockey's first encounter with the future Mrs Piggott began at a hotel just outside Doncaster – he was 15, she was 11 – and he was having a light snack before racing. His tall frame meant that his diet invariably consisted of cigars, champagne and a small piece of fish.

And Maureen, one of the Piggott's daughters, married another Yorkshireman – trainer William Haggas – and the retired jockey was instrumental in helping his son-in-law win the 1994 Derby with Erhaab.

"It will be good to be back with old friends," added Piggott. "Nijinsky was definitely my best St Leger winner – he won the Triple Crown and no horse has done so since.

"But, in terms of acceleration, I still rate Sir Ivor, the 1968 Derby winner, ahead of Nijinsky."

Such great horses. Such great memories. Such a great rider. But, as Lester Piggott intimated, why bother with superlatives when they are not necessary?

Or, in Piggott's case, when they will not do justice to the rider of a lifetime whose like will never be seen again.