The Queen Mother presents Lt-Col Piers Bengough with the Grand Military Gold Cup following his second consecutive victory on Charles Dickens in 1971.
Knighted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace on February 12, 1986, Piers Henry George Bengough embraced all forms of riding: polo, point-to-point, hunting & steeplechasing: all fell naturally within his compass.
Once a soldier in the Cavalry Regiment, his amateur jockey days began when riding out for trainer Alec Kilpatrick.
They did not get off to a good start. When Piers rode Eastern Chance in the 1957 Grand Military Gold Cup, the horse put in a decidedly lack-lustre performance. Piers informed Kilpatrick that Eastern Chance did not stay. The trainer, who had been reading a newspaper, then used it to strike Piers across the face, such was his rage. He evidently blamed Piers for the horse's poor performance.
The relationship became less strained when the cantankerous trainer offered him the ride on Go-Well in the forthcoming Grand National. (Jockey Alan Lillingston had already turned it down.)
Piers and Go-Well parted company at the third. Lillingston did even worse, coming down at the first.
He had better luck when riding his own horse, Joan's Rival, to victory in the 1960 Grand Military Gold Cup at Sandown.
Piers was also associated with that good mare, April Rose. Together they finished third in the 1965 Grand Military before finishing eleventh of the fourteen finishers in that year's National. This was their best effort in the contest. Piers and April Rose tried three more times, but without success.
1970 saw the start of a remarkable treble as Piers and his latest horse, Charles Dickens, won the Grand Military for the first time, going on to complete the hat-trick in 1971 & 1972.
As an owner, his greatest success on the Flat came in 1991 when his Cabochon won the Ascot Stakes.
Piers was the son of Nigel & Alice Bengough. After leaving Eton, he was commissioned, in 1948, in the 10th Royal Hussars.
He was elected to the Jockey Club in 1965 and went on to become chairman of the disciplinary committee.
Born on May 24, 1929, he died on April 18, 2005, aged 75. He left a widow, Bridget Shirley Adams, whom he'd married in 1952, and two sons.
In his time in the saddle, Piers rode 30 winners.
