Mercurial Italian has done it all and is still going strong.
Frankie Dettori is pure box office for racing – one of those rare figures to cross the divide from the back pages to the front.
Ebullient, effervescent, magical – just a sample of the adjectives one could attach to peak Dettori moments throughout an illustrious career which shows no signs of waning despite him reaching his half-century.
Those qualities have allowed him to transcend the barriers and branch out into such themes as restaurants, food companies and even a yoghurt endorsement in Europe.
Dettori has always had few peers in the weighing room, and fewer still that could come close to matching his burning ambition. Combine those two priceless commodities and great things happen.
Ever the showman – despite no crowds – Frankie Dettori returns on Alpine Star at Royal Ascot this year (Edward Whitaker/PA)
More often than not for Dettori, greatness happens on the big occasion.
There have been some lows too, but in one form or another, it has been headlines all the way from the day Milan-born Dettori rode his first British winner at Goodwood back in 1987.
Son of prolific Italian rider Gianfranco Dettori, Lanfranco, to give him his full name, was dispatched to Newmarket as a 14-year-old to learn his trade with Luca Cumani.
The now-retired Cumani described Dettori as “a bit wild, but I think we put him straight”, and that grounding was to provide the fledgling rider with his first century of winners as a teenager in 1990, as well as his first Group One on Markofdistinction.
Luca Cumani is credited with putting Dettori on the straight and narrow (Nigel French/PA)
Plenty had him marked as the next Lester Piggott – in fact record-breaking trainer Mark Johnston has previously said: “No disrespect to Lester Piggott, but isn’t Frankie Dettori just the greatest jockey?”
An indiscretion for possessing a small amount of cocaine in 1993 proved a momentary blip as his star continued to rise with a first British Classic winner and a champion jockey title soon under his belt, as he struck up a lucrative partnership with Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin operation.
Saturday, September 28, 1996 then marked Dettori’s passage into sporting folklore as he punched his way into the wider public consciousness with his ‘Magnificent Seven’ at Ascot – winning all seven races at mind-bogglingly huge odds. It seemed the only way was up.
However, in June 2000, Dettori was lucky to escape with his life after he and fellow jockey Ray Cochrane were aboard a light aircraft that crashed shortly after take-off, tragically killing pilot Patrick Mackey.
Dettori and Ray Cochrane were involved in a plane crash which killed the pilot, Patrick Mackey (Matthew Fean/PA)
Dettori, who broke his ankle, was dragged from the wreckage by Cochrane, who suffered career-ending injuries in the crash, with Dettori subsequently appointing his former weighing-room colleague as his agent – a relationship that endured until the start of 2020, when Cochrane opted to retire.
Back in winning action barely two months later, it was business as usual for the all-conquering Godolphin team in the following years, with Classic winners Kazzia and Blue Bunting, Dubai World Cup hero Electrocutionist and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Raven’s Pass underlining his partnership with Sheikh Mohammed.
That relationship crumbled in spectacular fashion at the end of 2012, with Dettori opting to walk away after perceiving a decline in his status within Godolphin.
His decision to ride the Aidan O’Brien-trained Scorpion for Sheikh Mohammed’s great rivals Coolmore in the 2005 St Leger had raised eyebrows and prompted a public show of contrition from Dettori, but in deciding to ride Camelot for the same connections in the 2012 Arc, Dettori knowingly pressed the destruct button.
Dettori’s decision to ride Scorpion in the St Leger did not go down well with his Godolphin bosses (Bruce Rollinson/PA)
But there was worse to come, as it was revealed in December that year he had tested positive for cocaine when riding in France earlier in the year, September to be precise, with a six-month ban handed out by the French authorities, backdated to November.
Dettori later pointed to the stresses involved with the Godolphin situation as a primary driver, saying in a frank interview with Clare Balding for Channel 4 News that disgraced trainer Mahmood Al Zarooni – given an eight-year worldwide ban for doping a number of his horses – had “ruined” his career.
The rider did not sit idle during his enforced spell in the wilderness, appearing on the 2013 edition of Celebrity Big Brother before returning to action with much fanfare on Oaks day at the end of May.
There was no glorious comeback on that occasion and it took Dettori a week to return to the winner’s enclosure, with that perhaps proving a portent to a couple of difficult years.
Despite securing a retainer as rider to owner Sheikh Joaan Al Thani, of Al Shaqab Racing, soon after his return, fortune did not smile on Dettori as a fall at Nottingham just days before the Arc saw him break his ankle and miss the ride on Longchamp heroine Treve.
Golden Horn’s Derby victory helped signal the return of Dettori to the top level (David Davies/PA)
To add insult to injury, he was jocked off that filly at the behest of trainer Criquette Head-Maarek in her Arc repeat the following year, having to watch on from back in the pack as Thierry Jarnet steered her home.
However, Dettori still managed to have the last laugh as it was his mount, the Derby winner Golden Horn, who scuppered Treve’s final shot at a historic Arc hat-trick in 2015.
While his Al Shaqab link did provide a Classic winner in 2016 Guineas hero Galileo Gold, it was revisiting his connection with trainer John Gosden that really kick-started the golden autumn to his riding days that he is still enjoying to this day.
Dettori enjoyed an association with Gosden before being scooped up by Godolphin back in the 1990s and a return to familiar ground has seen him blossom again in recent years with the likes of Golden Horn, Cracksman and Stradivarius flying the flag.
He enjoyed possibly the best year of his career in 2019, riding 18 Group One winners, as he continues to firmly put the emphasis on quality over quantity, happy to sit out the humdrum meetings to stay fresh for the big occasions.
Enable, trained masterfully by John Gosden (right) will perhaps go down as the greatest horse Dettori has ridden (Simon Cooper/PA)
He also been back riding for Sheikh Mohammed’s family and rode a Group One winner for them at Royal Ascot this year, but it is the Khalid Abdullah-owned Enable who has really helped cement Dettori’s legendary status. He has made no secret of his appreciation of the mare and her achievements, literally bowing down at her feet following her victorious British swansong at Kempton in September.
While Dettori is a natural showman, his emotions are usually in check – just about – but the dual Arc winner provoked such a response that Gosden has admitted keeping the rider under control was perhaps more of a challenge ahead of her attempt for a third Arc win.
When he does find a quiet moment to reflect, he will no doubt again toast the horse responsible for putting such an exclamation mark on his career.
It should also be said he owes plenty to wife Catherine too, with the mother of his five children standing resolutely by his side throughout the numerous peaks and troughs of a truly memorable career.
There is never a dull moment with Frankie, and long may it continue.
Follow us on Twitter racing365dotcom and like our Facebook page.
