Ascot to celebrate the remarkable career of legendary jockey Frankie Dettori on QIPCO British Champions Day this Saturday on Sky Sports Racing; Dettori is moving to the USA next year after shelving his retirement plans
Tuesday 17 October 2023 12:18, UK
Racing’s biggest superstar Frankie Dettori will bid farewell, perhaps for the final time, to Ascot this Saturday as he takes centre stage once more on QIPCO British Champions Day, live on Sky Sports Racing.
After over a 30-year career, the legendary Italian will be celebrated at what had long been billed as his final domestic stop on a long retirement tour.
As he has done time and time again, Dettori stole the headlines on Thursday as he announced, unsurprisingly to some, that he would be cancelling his plan to bow out.
Instead the 52-year-old, will now move to the USA and continue to ride as a full-time jockey, which he revealed could last "three months or three years".
Nonetheless, British racing fans will have a chance to say goodbye to one of their favourites this weekend, even if there is a chance he could make a flying visit in the future.
Here is a look back at Dettori's glittering career in the UK as well as his staggering success abroad…
Dettori was born into racing royalty, following the lead of his father Gianfranco - a multiple champion jockey in Italy and Classic winner in England.
At just 15, he left his homeland to work as an apprentice at Luca Cumani's powerful Newmarket stable, where his obvious talents were quickly recognised.
Cumani was the catalyst that helped Dettori become champion apprentice in 1989 and, a year later, become the first teenager since the great Lester Piggott to reach a century of winners in a British season.
It was as early as 1993 that Dettori's association began with Sheikh Mohammed's powerful Godolphin stable began, one that proved particularly lucrative for all concerned.
It was this connection that helped towards Dettori's first Jockeys' Championship as well as his first Classic in 1994 with Balanchine, trained by Saeed bin Suroor.
The first of six Arc victories came with Derby hero Lammtarra in 1995, and the international success followed with Singspiel in the 1996 Japan Cup, Daylami in the 1999 Breeders' Cup Turf and a stunning victory with Dubai Millennium in the 2000 Dubai World Cup.
Wall Street. Diffident. Mark Of Esteem. Decorated Hero. Fatefully. Lochangel. Fujiyama Crest.
To most people, those names won't mean much but they are seven horses that strike fear into bookmakers and no doubt offer great joy to many punters.
As Sky Sports Racing presenter Mike Cattermole said, Saturday September 28 1996 was a "magical day" for Dettori and is regarded as one of the most remarkable in British racing history.
Seven races won by the same jockey on any card is an extraordinary achievement, and that Dettori managed it on such an important and competitive day in the British racing calendar, The Festival of British Racing at Ascot, almost beggared belief.
In doing so, he cost the bookmakers millions and thrust himself into the public spotlight at the same time.
The turn of the millennium saw Dettori cash in on his newfound fame as he mixed it with leading celebrities.
He presented Top of the Pops, appeared on Parkinson (twice), teamed up with chef Marco Pierre White to open a chain of Italian restaurants and spent two years as a team captain on A Question of Sport.
Success on the track certainly hadn't dried up either. Dettori won both the 2001 and 2002 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe titles and, two years later lifted a third Jockeys' Championship.
The year 2000 also saw Dettori survive a horror plane clash in Newmarket, which tragically killed pilot Patrick Mackey. Dettori would escape with a broken ankle and facial cuts after being pulled from the wreckage by fellow passenger and jockey Ray Cochrane.
He would miss Royal Ascot that year and the chance to ride Dubai Millennium in the Prince of Wales's Stakes, but returned to the saddle just two months later.
Despite all of his success, it took until 2007 for Dettori to bag a first Derby victory on Authorized having already won 11 British Classics at this stage.
It was for trainer Peter Chapple-Hyam that the victory came, having won the Dante earlier that season, with the pair going on to blitz their rivals in the Epsom Classic, pulling away by five lengths at the line.
Dettori would repeat the feat eight years later as the Italian's presence on leading fancy Golden Horn helped attract a British record 125,000 people to Epsom.
That victory was momentous for another reason, cementing his comeback as a fan favourite, two years after returning from racing exile having served a six-month ban for testing positive for cocaine.
There was no sign of slowing as Dettori entered his 40s. Nine more British Classics were added to his jam-packed trophy cabinet, including the 2017 Oaks with superstar filly Enable.
She would go on to provide Dettori with two more Arc victories, while Cracksman, Stradivarius and Palace Pier were among the many names steered to top-level success during Dettori's golden era.
As the seasons went by, Dettori had the luxury of cherry-picking his best rides, often saving himself for the big Saturday fixtures, while the rest of the weighing room worked their way up and down the country.
Japan, USA, Dubai, Canada, Hong Kong and Qatar have all had a taste of Dettori-fever down the years.
On a freezing cold Saturday in December last year, shortly after racing's last surviving fixture was abandoned due to frost, Dettori's PR machine sprung into action once more and shocked the racing media into action.
It was, he said, finally time to bring his riding career to an end - after a year spent waving goodbye to his fans around the world.
The 2023 Breeders' Cup was to play host to his final farewell. That soon became the Melbourne Cup. Then Hong Kong. And finally, just over a week before Champions Day at Ascot, Dettori announced those retirement plans had been shelved.
Ascot still gets its chance to wish Dettori well on his travels Stateside and celebrate what has been without doubt a truly remarkable story.
Will he be back? Only time will tell. What's more certain is we're unlikely to ever have another like Lanfranco. Grazie Frankie.
Watch every race from QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot all live on Sky Sports Racing this Saturday, October 21.
