A congratulatory letter from Romola Nijinksy to the jockey Lester Piggott after winning the 1970 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket on the horse named after h

A congratulatory letter from Romola Nijinksy to the jockey Lester Piggott after winning the 1970 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket on the horse named after her late husband, the legendary Russian ballet dancer [Vaslav] Nijinsky, signed in blue ink by Romola Nijinsky, dated 29th April 1970, typescript on Cavendish Hotel, St James's, headed paper, addressed to Lester Piggott Esq., c/o Sports Illustrated, the letter reading "Dear Lester Piggott, I was tremendously impressed with your magnificent winning of the Two Thousand Guineas race this afternoon on the beautiful horse, Nijinsky, and I send you my congratulations. I ask of you now only on thing - please win the Derby for us! With every good wish for your success, Yours very sincerely, Romola Nijinksy", mounted under glass in a frame together with a picture of Vaslav and Romola Nijinksy in 1926, and a print of Nijinksy with Lester Piggott up by the artist Madeline Selfe, 70 by 30.5cm. Vaslav Nijinsky was born in 1889 or 1890 in Kiev, Russian Empire (now Ukraine) to parents with Polish ancestry. He is considered to be the greatest male ballet dancer and choreographer of the early 20th century. He was celebrated for his virtuosity and for the depth and intensity of his characterizations. He could dance 'en pointe', a rare skill among male dancers at the time, and was admired for his seemingly gravity-defying leaps. In 1909 he joined the Ballets Russes and soon became the company's male premier danseur, causing an enormous stir amongst audiences wherever he performed. By 1912 Nijinsky began choreographing original ballets introducing new style of modern dance that audiences either loved or hated. In 1913 Nijinsky married the Hungarian aristocrat Romola de Pulszky while on Tour with the company in South America. The couple would have two daughters Kyra, who would become a ballet dancer, and Tamara, who later served as an executive director of the Vaslav & Romola Nijinsky Foundation. After 1917 Nijinsky never dancer again after his mental health deteriorated quickly and tragically for the next 30 years he was in and out of psychiatric institutions. Ironically in the context of the racehorse, during his mental illness Vaslav Nijinsky had maintained that he would be reincarnated as a horse. He died in a London clinic in 1950. Romola Nijinsky published two biographies of her husband. She died in Paris in 1978. Nijinsky is regarded as one of the greatest racehorses and stallions of the 20th century, and perhaps the greatest horse associated with trainer Vincent O'Brien and jockey Lester Piggott. The colt still remains the last horse to gave won the British racing's Triple Crown, the 2,000 Guineas, the Derby and the St Leger. He was bred in Canada and was a son of the outstanding stallion Northern Dancer and was owned and raced by the American businessman Mr Charles Engelhard.