How Frankie Dettori's hospitality ended the moment Jason Weaver pipped him to Guineas glory

Jason Weaver has recalled beating Frankie Dettori by a short-head to win his sole Classic on Mister Baileys in the 2,000 Guineas 30 years ago – after Dettori had offered hospitality on the morning of the race that wouldn’t be repeated a year on.

Weaver was speaking to the Racing Post for a major interview in Sunday’s newspaper in which he discusses his dramatic Guineas triumph, the “awful” end to his riding career after an unwinnable battle with his weight and his successful second career as a key figure on ITV Racing.

The highlight of Weaver’s career in the saddle came in 1994, when he was flying as stable jockey to the rapidly emerging Mark Johnston yet wasn’t guaranteed the ride on the yard’s star three-year-old Mister Baileys, with Dettori having ridden him to victory in the Royal Lodge the previous year. Dettori, though, plumped for Dewhurst winner Grand Lodge, leaving Weaver with a plum ride.

"He was a real good two-year-old so I was over the moon to be on him," he said, "until he did a piece of work at Thirsk that wasn't great. A week later, though, he went to Ripon for another piece, where he absolutely opened up in the final quarter-mile, really flew, like a rocket, which was when we started thinking we were going down to Newmarket with a real buzzer. Mind you, you have to remember it was my first ride in a Classic, and Mark's first runner in one, and how long had it been since the north had had a Guineas winner? So he was a big price."

Mark Johnston: trained Classic hero Mister BaileysCredit: Edward Whitaker

However, as the field split in two and it transpired that Mister Baileys was on the right side, Weaver soon found himself in pole position.

"I remember being told not to kick before two out," he laughed, "and I went far too early, kicked on at the Bushes. Dettori came to me but mine went again and got up by inches, which was all that mattered. I don’t think I got a bollocking – it didn't matter, we'd won. It was all gibberish apart from that, and as a young man, how do you soak it all in? I don't remember it step for step. I remember the race, Dettori patting me on the back as we pulled up, and I remember the next year's race as well."

That was when Weaver discovered his narrow victory had had consequences.

"The morning of Mister Baileys' win, we'd both been riding out at Luca's and I went back to Frankie's for a coffee," he recalled. "So the next year we'd both ridden out again and I said to him, 'I'm coming to yours for a coffee'. He said: 'You're f*****g not coming to mine again.' He remembered what had happened before and that was that."

Read more from Jason Weaver in The Big Read, available in Sunday's newspaper or online for Members' Club Ultimate subscribers from 6pm on Saturday. Click here to sign up.

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