Drugs, debacles and a hell of a lot of winners: the highs and lows of Frankie Dettori
In this feature published earlier this week exclusively for Racing Post Members' Club subscribers, Sam Hendry recounts the major ups and downs of Frankie Dettori's remarkable career. This has now been made free to read for users of the Racing Post app as our Sunday Read.
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In true Frankie Dettori style, the legendary rider brought the latest dramatic saga in his career to an end by once again stealing all the headlines on Champions Day at Ascot.
Saturday was the day that was supposed to bring down the curtain on his British riding career, a day on which the clock had been ticking all year. Except then, in typical fashion, Dettori delivered one final twist with the announcement that he will continue riding indefinitely, albeit in the US before then riding a brilliant Ascot double on Trawlerman and King Of Steel.
But then few sporting careers have delivered as many twists as that of Dettori . . .
Teenage kicks
As the son of one of Italy’s most decorated riders, the prolific Gianfranco Dettori, Lanfranco ‘Frankie’ Dettori was destined for greatness from the start, and after moving to Newmarket in 1985 at the age of 14 it did not take long for the teenage prodigy to make an impact.
He rode his first winner on Lizzy Hare aged 16 for Luca Cumani and before the decade was out he had established himself as the hottest young property in the game. He was the reigning champion apprentice heading into 1990, when he took his first steps toward superstardom.
That year saw him become the first teenager to ride 100 winners in a season since the legendary Lester Piggott and he also sealed his first Group 1 triumph at – where else – Ascot on Markofdistinction in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.
Nightclub nightmare
As would become typical, a Dettori rise would often be followed by a steep fall and his first dalliance with danger came in a drug-fuelled binge in London after watching his beloved Arsenal win the 1993 League Cup.
He was arrested outside a nightclub for possession of cocaine and although he escaped with just a police caution, the hit to his professional life was much more severe. The then 22-year-old saw a lucrative move to ride in Hong Kong fall through, a prior decision which had already resulted in an acrimonious break-up with his mentor and retainer Cumani.
Godolphin domination
With the help of Barney Curley and John Gosden, Dettori rapidly bounced back from that adversity and was recruited for what would become the most coveted role in Flat racing.
Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin operation was in its formative period when employing Dettori in 1994, but together they would go on to rule the roost for the best part of two decades.
Balanchine gave both owner and rider a maiden British Classic in their first year together, and by the end of 1995 Dettori had claimed two champion jockey crowns, consecutive annual winners tallies of 200-plus and a first Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe aboard Lammtarra, among myriad other big-race successes.
The sight of Dettori executing his trademark winner’s enclosure leap in the Godolphin blue became the most recognisable image in the sport on stars including Dubai Millennium, who the rider described as “possibly the most powerful horse I’ve ever ridden”.
Despite a disappointing defeat at Epsom in 1999 to prolong his Derby duck, Dettori guides Dubai Millennium to victory in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and the Dubai World Cup, the first of his four strikes in what was then the richest race in the world.
The Magnificent Seven
September 28, 1996. The day that propelled Dettori from the top of the racing world to the top of the sporting world. His win on 2-1 shot Wall Street in Ascot’s opener was expected by many and the follow-up on 12-1 Diffident a nice boost, but by the time Mark Of Esteem went in on race three of the seven-race card heads were turning.
On an afternoon that has become one of the most celebrated in racing’s history, Dettori ploughed through the card with Decorated Hero, Fatefully, Lochangel and finally Fujyama Crest all crossing the line in front to complete a stunning 25,051 seven-timer.
The perfect storm of a charismatic rider at the peak of his powers at the biggest track in Flat racing had punters delirious and the bookies in ruins.
In one fell swoop, Dettori ascended to household-name status. His growing fame earned him spots as team captain on A Question of Sport and guest presenter of Top of the Pops. Twenty-seven years later he remains by far the most recognisable name in British racing.
Swain’s Breeders’ Cup debacle
The one ride Dettori would wish he could forget came in the 1998 Breeders’ Cup Classic.
After winning the King George and the Irish Champion Stakes, the popular six-year-old Swain travelled to Churchill Downs as a leading contender for the Breeders’ Cup’s most prestigious event.
However, against a strong home contingent featuring Awesome Again and Silver Charm, Dettori lost all control in the straight, continuing to whip his mount as he drifted further and further left off a true line before being beaten by just a length.
Criticism flew the way of the rider post-race and Dettori said it took him six months to get over the painful defeat, although he would eventually claim his Breeders’ Cup Classic on Raven’s Pass in 2008.
The Newmarket aeroplane disaster
While there have been many professional lows in Dettori’s life, this horrifying incident might well have robbed him of that life. A plane transporting Dettori and fellow jockey Ray Cochrane from Newmarket to Goodwood in June 2000 crashed shortly after take-off, killing pilot Patrick Mackey.
A blood-soaked Dettori was dragged to safety from the flaming wreckage by Cochrane and survived with facial injuries and a fractured ankle, with police saying it was “a miracle” either rider had survived.
He was back riding two months later, but the mental scars would take much longer to recover from.
Derby glory at last
After a few quiet years at the turn of the millennium, Dettori rededicated himself to racing in the mid-2000s and won his third champion jockey title in 2004. However, there was one big prize left that had so far proved elusive, the race he craved above all others.
Fourteen times Dettori had been jocked up for the Derby on the first weekend of June at Epsom, and 14 times he had walked away empty-handed. But that all changed in 2007 when he delivered hot favourite Authorized to a rapturous reception.
Dettori said afterwards he “had to pinch himself” crossing the line, but the dream had indeed become a reality for the boy from Sardinia.
A messy break-up
The darkest period of Dettori’s professional career began with the break-up of racing’s power couple. In truth, tensions between Godolphin and the world’s most famous jockey had been growing throughout 2012.
Dettori did not see eye to eye with trainer Mahmood Al Zarooni, and he was increasingly frustrated at being overlooked in favour of younger riders Mickael Barzalona and Silvestre de Sousa. After missing out on winning rides in the Oaks and St Leger, the final straw came in October when Dettori’s bold decision to ride Camelot in the Arc for Godolphin’s eternal rivals Coolmore was followed a few weeks later by confirmation his contract would not be renewed.
After combining for 943 winners across a glittering 18-year spell, it would be another eight years before Dettori rode his next winner in the famous blue silks.
But the worst was yet to come.
Rock bottom
The events of 2012 and eventual split with Godolphin had weighed heavily on Dettori – too heavily as it turned out. Just days after the split with Godolphin was announced, he received a letter confirming he had failed a drugs test taken at Longchamp on Arc trials day.
Dettori had hit what he described as “a low point” and he sunk into a depression which had led to “a night of madness”.
The story rocked the sporting world when it became public and the six-month ban he was issued with left his reputation in tatters.
During his enforced layoff, Dettori suffered further ignominy when joining series 11 of Celebrity Big Brother. He was the first to enter the iconic house and the fifth to be evicted.
Upon his return to the saddle in 2013, he rode just 16 winners from over 200 rides with the phone conspicuously cold. Even the glimmer of hope presented when he picked up the ride on leading Arc fancy Treve was dashed when he broke his ankle a few days before the race and watched on from the sidelines as she romped to victory under Thierry Jarnet.
To rub further salt into the wounds, Dettori picked up the ride on Treve again in 2014, but after two defeats at odds-on he was replaced once more by Jarnet a month before she landed another Arc.
His time at the top looked over. Was this to be the end?
Gosden to the rescue
Far from it. Dettori’s old friend John Gosden welcomed him back to Clarehaven Stables at the beginning of 2015 for a spectacular career renaissance.
On his first day back, Dettori worked a precocious three-year-old named Golden Horn. The rest, as they say, became history.
Victories in the Feilden Stakes and the Dante established Golden Horn as the hot favourite for the Derby, for which he had not been entered and required supplementing. Doubts over his stamina were banished as a consummate ride from Dettori saw him sweep past top-class stablemate Jack Hobbs and earned Dettori a dream second Derby, and more importantly undid a lot of the damage to his battered reputation.
After further Group 1 triumphs in the Coral-Eclipse and Irish Champion Stakes, the golden duo claimed the greatest Flat prize of all at Longchamp, Dettori’s fourth Arc, as he reclaimed his spot as the sport’s most coveted rider.
Enable: the apple of his eye
The highs continued to come as the partnership with Gosden went from strength to strength. Star of the show and the apple of Dettori’s eye was the majestic Enable.
Dettori partnered the wondermare to a sensational 11 Group 1s, including an Oaks, a Breeders’ Cup Turf, three King Georges and an Arc double which made her jockey the most successful rider in the Longchamp showpiece’s illustrious history. Upon Enable’s retirement in 2020, Dettori described her as “the horse he loved the most”.
Stradivarius woes and Gosden ‘sabbatical’
Now the elder statesmen of their professions, Gosden and Dettori ruled the roost until a soap opera saga in the summer of 2022 threatened to derail their relationship.
Dettori experienced a chastening time at Royal Ascot, with events coming to a head following the defeat of Stradivarius in his chase for a record-equalling fourth Ascot Gold Cup.
Stradivarius had been soundly beaten by Subjectivist in 2021 when Dettori’s hold-up ride and some traffic problems he subsequently encountered left him with too much ground to make up. History repeated itself 12 months later, with Gosden and owner Bjorn Neilsen emphatically and publicly unimpressed.
After a week of rumours, it was announced the duo had agreed to take a “sabbatical”, with Gosden unhappy at Dettori’s increasingly part-time schedule and lack of focus.
However, the Ross and Rachel of racing were quickly back on an even keel and victory on the stable’s Inspiral in the Jacques le Marois win was followed up by a Dettori masterclass on Trawlerman in the Ebor. Relationship mended.
A Group 1 Champions Day double on Kinross and Emily Upjohn ended a troubled year in spectacular style before an announcement followed in December that Dettori would retire at the conclusion of the 2023 season.
The fantastic ‘farewell’
His farewell campaign began in inauspicious fashion when unseated by Chaldean coming out of the stalls in the Greenham in April. Was that a sign of things to come? Not a chance.
Dettori would partner the Juddmonte colt to victory at a rainswept Newmarket to win his fourth 2,000 Guineas and the hits kept coming during what turned into one of his finest years.
A Group 1 double at Epsom, including Dettori’s final Classic on Soul Sister in the Oaks, followed before he bowed out of his spiritual Royal Ascot home with a terrific treble, the highlight being a superb ride on Courage Mon Ami in the Gold Cup.
Another masterful ride on Mostahdaf saw Dettori lower the colours of the summer’s superstar three-year-old Paddington in the Juddmonte International before Inspiral’s second Jacques le Marois and Sun Chariot strike brought his Group/Grade 1 total to a staggering 290 – enough to persuade the great man that he was still riding well enough to carry on after all.
Read more Sunday Reads:
Ruby Walsh: 'Annie Power hurt - that could have been my Frankie Dettori day'
Jamie Spencer: 'It would have been like going to jail for something you hadn't done'
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