Frankie Dettori is rated a 6-4 shot to ride a 2023 English Classic winner in his final season riding, although the Italian superstar could also have a chance to tidy up unfinished Irish Classic business before retirement.
Racing’s most recognisable figure announced his retirement plans over the weekend with tributes – and even a friendly warning – pouring in for the 52-year-old.
“He is an incredible rider and has given so much to the whole sport – it’s unbelievable,” Aidan O’Brien said of Dettori who rode Snowfall to a record-breaking 12 length Oaks success at Epsom last year.
That’s one of half dozen Oaks victories for Dettori, who has won all of the English Classics at least twice.
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With 21 English Classics under his belt overall, the Italian can also boast 10 Irish Classic victories, beginning almost three decades ago with Balanchine in the 1994 Derby.
Since then, he has won the 2,000 Guineas at the Curragh twice, the Leger twice, and the Oaks on five occasions.
However, despite numerous attempts, Dettori has yet to win the 1,000 Guineas at the Curragh and will have only one more chance to fill in the gap.
The jockey turned 52 on Thursday, a moment that helped his decision to retire at the end of next year.
“When it came to my birthday I thought ‘wow I’m 52′. You have to face reality, I’m not as good as I was when I was 35 and every year as you get older you’re not as supple or as strong as you were in your 30s.
“I want to leave on a good note and finish with all my best powers. At the moment I think I’m still good enough to compete with the best,” he said.
Dettori’s career has been a massive rollercoaster of highs and lows, none lower than 22 years ago when he was saved from a plane crash by his friend and subsequent agent, Ray Cochrane.
The Irishman, a former Derby winning jockey himself, retired shortly after a crash that claimed the life of the pilot, Patrick Mackey.
“Frankie thinks it’ll be easy giving up, but it won’t – this will be the hardest bit of his life coming up,” Cochrane warned.
“I remember when I stopped I couldn’t get it out of my system. Every morning my feet were moving, and I was thinking ‘I’ve got somewhere to go’.
“When you’re riding you’re either hitting the M25 to London or heading up the A1 and it took me two years to get that out of my system.
“Frankie has been doing it for over 30 years and not going racing and having something to do will be very tough. It was tough for me and it has been a few other people,” he added.
Johnny Murtagh is another close friend of Dettori and praised his former rival as “special” rider.
He commented: “Outside of that he is just a brilliant man, he’s a very warm and fun guy to be around, everyone loves him and it’s the end of an era. Racing has been very good to him – but he has been very good to racing.”
