‘He’s a true legend’: what now for Frankie Dettori as racing’s biggest name leaves the stage?

It has been a giddy, glorious and occasionally bumpy ride, but this time, it seems, Frankie Dettori’s mind is made up. The most storied jockey of the past 40 years will effectively head into retirement after the main card at the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar on Saturday, when he will have three chances to add a farewell Grade One winner to nearly 300 on his record already. Racing may not see a career quite like it again.

Alongside Lester Piggott and perhaps John McCririck over the past half-century, “Frankie” registers with pretty much everyone, no surname required. People know who he is, even if they have no interest at all in what he does. In a world that has been fragmented by social media and the internet, Dettori may well be the last racing figure who will ever enjoy such instant name-recognition across a broad swathe of the British population.

Dettori’s lifetime in the sport, after all, dates back to an era when A Question Of Sport regularly pulled in more than 10 million viewers, and a three-year stint as a team captain was more than enough to establish him as the bubbly, irrepressible face of racing. His last year on the show was 2004, which was also the year when he won the Flat jockeys’ title for the third and final time. As far as much of the British public is concerned, however, he has probably been the champion in most years since.

It is, in many respects, a hard-won celebrity, a double-edged reward for events both on and off the track that have repeatedly pushed Dettori onto the front pages, ever since the unforgettable afternoon at Ascot in 1996 when he defied odds of 25,000-1 to ride all seven winners on the card.

In June 2000, he was pulled from the burning wreckage of a light aircraft by his fellow rider, Ray Cochrane, after a crash on takeoff in which the plane’s pilot was killed. When he finally ended his quest for a Derby winner in 2007, that too was headline news.

And if everyone loves a winner, they often love a flawed hero and a comeback even more. A six‑month ban after a failed drug test for cocaine would have been the end of most jockeys in their 40s, more than enough time for owners and trainers to find a younger alternative. For Dettori, though, suspension in December 2012 was a bridge to a renewed association with John Gosden in Newmarket, and a fresh succession of champions and Classic winners, including Enable, Golden Horn and Stradivarius.

The public highs and lows have been an essential part of Dettori’s story, up to and including the humiliating admission in March that he was filing for bankruptcy after a prolonged dispute with HMRC over unpaid taxes, a situation that Dettori tried, and failed, to keep private.

There have been so many twists to the tale, in fact, that it can be easy to forget that without Dettori’s immense, generational talent, there would be no story at all. It was clear from his earliest days as a teenage apprentice that there was an instinctive rapport between horse and rider whenever Dettori was in the saddle.

Horses ran for him, and improved for him. In 1990, he was the first teenager since Piggott to reach 100 winners in a season, and also announced his arrival at the highest level with a Group One double at Ascot, on the same card that he would charge through unbeaten just six years later.

The famous flying dismount, copied from the legend of American racing Ángel Cordero Jr, was added to Dettori’s repertoire in 1994, and the buzz from riding a big-race winner has never left him. Nor has the gift of knowing, with something akin to clairvoyance, where to sit, when to strike and where the gaps will appear.

But what now for the public face of British racing? It will not be easy to finally let go, whether or not Dettori fulfils his apparent desire to take “a few rides in South America, which is something I’ve always wanted to do”. It is not, after all, an ambition that he has mentioned until now.

But the calamitous decision to accept the tax advice that led to his dispute with HMRC means that Dettori will not draw down the curtain on his career with enough money in the bank to kick back and take things easy.

He has already been confirmed in a new role as a “global ambassador” with the football super-agent Kia Joorabchian’s burgeoning Amo Racing operation. Dettori told Matt Chapman on At The Races on Friday this was the main reason for his departure now, as well as being able to finish at the Breeders’ Cup. “These opportunities don’t come along very often. I like the setup – this is a young team with big ambitions,” explained the jockey.

Joorabchian, himself, was gushing in his praise for his new recruit at Del Mar on Thursday. “He’s an icon, he is a true legend of the sport,” Joorabchian said. “When you talk about great sportsmen like the LeBron Jameses, [Steph] Currys, Messis and Pelés and people like that, Frankie is that to horse racing. When you go into Royal Ascot, you see a statue there, you know that he’s made a big impact on so many lives across the world.

“He’s not here to entertain people, he’s here to actually work and he will be working with us very closely. He will be involved in all aspects of our business [but] he won’t be a racing manager. He is a global ambassador.”

Reality TV is another possibility, although earlier outings on Celebrity Big Brother and I’m A Celebrity … have tended to reveal a moodier side to Dettori’s character, behind the ebullient public persona. On both shows, he was an early casualty of the public vote.

It may be that Dettori himself does not really know what he will do and how he will fill his time once his race-riding days are over. And for another 24 hours at least, he remains a top-level professional jockey, focused on three rides at one of the most prestigious and glamorous events in the calendar.

A five-year-old filly called Argine will be Dettori’s final Grade One mount in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, the same race in which he registered his first Breeders’ Cup success in 1994. Her form at home in Japan suggests that she has something to find to figure, but few riders in history have ever risen to an occasion like Lanfranco Dettori.

For one final time, cue Frankie?

Elliott can make it pay with Found A Fifty

The top-level season over jumps in Britain and Ireland opens with the Grade One Betvictor Champion Chase at Down Royal on Saturday and Gordon Elliott’s Found A Fifty (2.40) is a fair price at around 11-2 to take this first step up to three miles in his stride.

The eight-year-old is Jack Kennedy’s pick from three runners from the yard, has won six of his 11 starts over fences and looked to have every chance of staying beyond two-and-a-half miles when successful in a Grade Two at Fairyhouse in April.

Wetherby 1.15 Lightning Flash made a solid start over fences in a handicap at Chepstow last month and posted a useful time too, so a 5lb rise is the weights looks more than fair.

Ascot 1.30 Chasing was always likely to be when No Questions Asked showed his full potential and Ben Pauling’s gelding has been found a good opportunity to make a winning start over fences.

Wetherby 1.50 Though she was a fortunate winner of the Champion Hurdle in March, Golden Ace ran to a similar level at Punchestown a few weeks later and a repeat of that form should be enough here.

Ascot 2.05 The front-running Sans Bruit ended last season in outstanding form and his impeccable jumping could make him very difficult to peg back.

Wetherby 2.22 A seven-length defeat under 12st and a considerate ride was a commendable performance by Take No Chances on her return to action at Chepstow last month to action and the step back up in trip as she returns to Graded company should suit.

Wetherby 2.57 Djelo’s form tailed off a little in Grade One events at Cheltenham and Aintree in the spring but he enjoyed a generally progressive novice campaign and has run well fresh in the past.

Ascot 3.10 Harry Derham’s Washington is approaching the veteran stage but remains lightly raced for a nine-year-old and showed that he is still capable of winning off a mark in the low 130s when successful off 128 at Chepstow last time.

Wetherby 3.30 Having progressed by the run since a win at Uttoxeter in the summer, Pure Gold improved again to win at Hexham in early October and she could notch a fourth win in five runs here.

Ascot 3.45 Henry de Bromhead shows a healthy level-stakes profit on the select group of handicap chasers he sends to Britain in the early months of the season and the 6-1 shot Le Coq Hardi could further improve his record.

Graffard aims for treble with Goliath

Lashkari, trained by Alain de Royer-Dupré and with the great Yves Saint-Martin in the saddle, took the first running of the Breeders’ Cup Turf in 1984 and French-trained runners were regularly the star names in the European challenge in the early years of the meeting. Miesque and Goldikova picked up five miles between them. Six Perfections, Domedriver, In The Wings and Miss Alleged also returned home as Breeders’ Cup winners and who could forget André Fabre’s 133-1 shock with Arcangues in the 1993 Classic?

Since there were only two turf races to aim at until 2007, it was a hugely impressive record, which makes France’s miserable strike rate in recent seasons all the more perplexing. Fabre’s Talismanic, in the 2017 Turf, was the last French-trained winner at the meeting.

In 2025, however, there is a new French champion trainer in town. Francis-Henri Graffard has won 149 races in France this year, and tops the prize-money table with more than €12.5m (£11m). In second place is Fabre, the champion 30 times in the past, with 99 winners and less than half of Graffard’s prize-money earnings.

In the last month alone, Graffard has won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe with Daryz, the Champion Stakes at Ascot with Calandagan, who also took the King George at the same track back in July. On Saturday he will attempt to complete a unique treble when Goliath (21.41) goes to post for a compelling renewal of the Breeders’ Cup Turf.

A win for Goliath, who has been supplemented for the race at a cost of $200,000, would give Graffard a complete set of wins in the world’s three most prestigious mile-and-a-half races on turf in 2025, with three different horses.

The most obvious rivals standing in Goliath’s way are Minnie Hauk, the Oaks winner and Arc runner-up, and the evergreen gelding Rebel’s Romance, who is also racing for a slice of history as only the third horse – after Beholder and Goldikova – to win at three Breeders’ Cups.

Minnie Hauk is a sure-fire favourite after a near perfect season but it is a campaign that started back at Chester in early May and there has to be a concern that this could be a race too far after a hard-fought duel with Daryz in Paris four weeks ago.

Rebel’s Romance is all but certain to run his race and will join the all-time global top-10 money earners with a third Turf success. This looks like the strongest field he has faced at the meeting, however, and Goliath has only 1lb to find with Charlie Appleby’s runner on Timeform’s ratings.

The standout performance on Goliath’s record remains the 2024 King George at Ascot, which was run at an end-to-end gallop. With Silawi, the frontrunning Canadian International winner, also in Saturday’s field, the Turf could be set up for a return to Goliath’s best form, and at around 8-1 he appeals as one of the strongest bets on Saturday’s card.

Del Mar 19.00: A wide open running of the Filly & Mare Sprint, but Hope Road’s Grade One-winning form at Saratoga in August could prove to be the strongest on offer.

Del Mar 19.41: US-trained sprinters have taken three of the last four runnings of what is an unusual test for European runners. Ag Bullet, the Jaipur winner at Saratoga in June, could make it four from five.

Del Mar 20.21: Straight No Chaser beat Bentornato by half a length in last year’s Sprint, but Jose D’Angelo’s colt comes here relatively fresh after a single run in 2025 and posted an impressive trial at Churchill Downs in September.

Del Mar 21.01: Dorth Vader was closing at the line when touched off by the now retired Thorpedo Anna, last year’s Distaff winner, in the Personal Ensign at Saratoga in June and looks big at around 5-1.

Del Mar 22.25: The Classic lost its favourite earlier in the week when Sovereignty, the Kentucky Derby winner, was ruled out, leaving Japan’s Forever Young as the top-rated runner in the race. He was third behind Sierra Leone and Fierceness 12 months ago but has been prepared solely with this race in mind, with just one run since April, and could give Japan a first win in the meeting’s showpiece event.

Del Mar 23.05: Graffard’s Sahlan is a fast improving three-year-old and can follow up his win in the Prix du Moulin in September at the chief expense of last year’s 2,000 Guineas winner, Notable Speech.

Del Mar 23.45: Full Serrano’s season has been geared around a repeat of last year’s win in the Dirt Mile and it should pay dividends at around 5-1.

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