'I've had a tough week - now I can chillax' - Dettori bounces back on Inspiral

Friday: Coronation Stakes, Royal Ascot

You cannot keep a good man down for long and Frankie Dettori, who adores the royal meeting like few others but might have begun to question his love affair with it after a trying week, was back doing what he does best – steering a strongly backed big-race favourite to a storming victory in front of a roaring crowd.

Inspiral, last year's champion two-year-old filly trained by John and Thady Gosden, was the horse in question and the authority she displayed in the £500,000 Coronation Stakes might have come as a surprise to those who had let her morning odds drift to 7-2.

Punters had seemingly not lost faith in Dettori, whose confidence might have been near the floor after a few forgetful days, but the sport's most familiar face has seen off bigger challenges in his enduring career and made no mistake on the Cheveley Park Stud homebred, who started the 15-8 favourite and shot sublimely clear to see off American raider Spendarella.

Discoveries, whose siblings Alpha Centauri and Alpine Star had won the Coronation Stakes in recent years, was third, but the race was about one horse and one jockey, who might be in a different stratosphere to most of his colleagues, but still feels things as sharply as the rest of the weighing room when they go wrong.

And they had in Berkshire this week.

The 51-year-old made a mess of removing the hood from Lord North in Wednesday's Prince of Wales's before his ride on old favourite Stradivarius in the Gold Cup was questioned and criticised by mentor Gosden, while the Queen's Saga was a head second in the Britannia.

Dettori then carried the hopes of a nation and the monarchy on his Italian shoulders when partnering Reach For The Moon, the odds-on favourite for Thursday's Hampton Court who managed only a tame second.

Not for the first time, he bounced back – and then did a flying dismount to prove the pep was right back in his step.

"It's been a tough week but I'm on the board now and I can chillax a bit," he said. "I must say, my head was thumping last night but I woke up this morning and took a big while to warm up then I buried my head into the racing and thought I still had another few chances.

"All wasn't lost yet. Like AP [McCoy] said, you have to think outside the box and pull yourself together."

Frankie Dettori celebrates after winning the Coronation StakesCredit: Alex Livesey (Getty Images)

Dettori, probably by his own admission, would make a terrible poker player and it was crystal clear to see what the Coronation Stakes result – a second strike in the race for him after Alpine Star two years ago – meant.

"I opened the Racing Post and I thought it was time to concentrate as I had some chances," he added.

"You've got to cancel it out. You can't read too much into things people are saying – it's gone now. For the first hour this morning I thought about it still, but then studied the form and it was grand.

"This is great. I've had a difficult week. I couldn't get the hood off Lord North and things didn't go right on Stradivarius and I was just touched off, unlucky, in the Britannia and then the colt got beaten at odds-on.

"We've had a tough week and everyone has been a bit down, but racing is like that and she's put a smile on our face."

Those grins might have come sooner had Inspiral, who spent the winner as favourite for the 1,000 Guineas, come to hand as connections had desired in the spring.

"She's very special," her adoring partner added. "I thought when she broke slow, 'Here we go again, what else can go wrong here.' I took a chance on the inside, she got all the splits, she's got an engine and she got me out of trouble.

"She really took off and she put some good fillies to bed in great style so it's very exciting."

Winning joint-trainer John Gosden believes Inspiral will get a longer trip and said: “There was an element of relief at the furlong pole and surprise at the line. I asked Frankie coming in. I like the jockey's first reaction before they have time to think on what they feel, and I think you could go a mile and a quarter with her. This is a stiff mile here.

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