Hand signed photo of FRANKIE DETTORI
Size of white card 30x20 cm


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Lanfranco Dettori MBE (Italian pronunciation: [laɱˈfraŋko detˈtoːri]; born 15 December 1970),[1] better known as Frankie Dettori, is an Italian horse racing jockey based in the United Kingdom. Dettori has been British flat racing Champion Jockey three times and has ridden the winners of more than 500 Group races.[2] This includes 20 winners of the English classics. His most celebrated achievement was riding all seven winners on British Festival of Racing Day at Ascot Racecourse in 1996.[3] He is the son of the Sardinian jockey Gianfranco Dettori, who was a prolific winner in Italy. He was described by the late Lester Piggott as the best jockey currently riding.[4]

Since the end of 2012, Dettori has been operating as a freelance, having split with Godolphin Racing, for whom he was stable jockey and had most of his big race victories.[5][6] In December 2012, he was suspended from riding for six months after being found guilty of taking a prohibited substance, believed to be cocaine.[7]

Dettori announced in December 2022 that 2023 would be his final year of professional riding.[8]

Career

Born in Milan, Italy, Dettori's first experience with horses was at the age of twelve, and his father bought him a Palomino pony. This had some impact on him, as he rode the horse often. When he was 13 Dettori left school to become a stable boy and apprentice jockey. The following year, he went to Great Britain, where he apprenticed with trainer Luca Cumani at Newmarket in 1985, becoming a stable jockey soon after.[9]

In 1990, Dettori became the first teenager since Lester Piggott to ride 100 winners in one season. His first win came at the age of 16 in Turin in November 1986, while his first victory in Britain was the following June. Further success followed, with numerous winners in Group 1 races. On 28 September 1996 he achieved the feat of winning all seven races on a single day at Ascot Racecourse.[10] This achievement was subsequently commemorated in a painting by the noted equine artist Barrie Linklater, commisisoned by the Ascot Authority.[10]

He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1998, when he was surprised by Michael Aspel at the International Sportsman's Club in London.[citation needed]

In a 2010 interview with the BBC's Newsnight, he admitted that he used to take diuretic drugs to keep his weight down. Dettori said he had used a wide range of substances before the Jockey Club banned them in June 1998 after a spate of positive drug tests revealed how prevalent their use was becoming: "I took Lasix, pee pills, diuretics, laxatives; all sorts".[11]

On 1 June 2000, Dettori was injured when the Piper Seneca on which he was traveling crashed near Newmarket. A police spokesman commented "It would certainly seem to be a miracle that anyone got out of the crash alive".[12] On 29 December of the same year he received an honorary MBE.

Dettori was the retained jockey for the Godolphin racing stables, but it was announced in September 2012, that the retainer would not be renewed in 2013. He is well known for his distinctive "flying dismounts".[citation needed]

He quit his position as a team captain on the BBC quiz A Question of Sport in 2003, when he was apparently stung by a question from a participant as to when he retired from riding. Since that time he has completely rededicated himself to riding. He was rewarded for his newfound dedication by becoming the British Champion Jockey in 2004.[citation needed]

The Epsom Derby was the only British Classic Race Dettori had not won in his career, until his fifteenth attempt on 2 June 2007 on the Peter Chapple-Hyam trained Authorized.[13] The following day he won the Prix du Jockey Club on Lawman, notching up a derby double.[14]

In 2007, Dettori became the face of "Jockey" yoghurt, sold across Europe, but especially popular in France. The product initially courted controversy for its sweet flavour, but Dettori's advertising campaign – "Frankie know whatta you a-like!" – has seen sales rise slightly.[15]

In November 2012, he faced an inquiry following a failed drugs test while riding in France in September,[16] and on 5 December 2012, Dettori was suspended from riding for six months after being found guilty of taking a prohibited substance[7] believed to be cocaine.[17] In a statement, his lawyer said he "also accepts that he has let down the sport he loves and all those associated with it, as well as the wider public".[18]

In January 2013, Dettori was the fifth to be evicted on the eleventh series of the British reality show, Celebrity Big Brother.[citation needed]

After serving his six-month ban, Dettori made his racing comeback at Epsom on the 31 May 2013. A week later, he won his first race riding Asian Trader at Sandown.[citation needed]

From June 2013 to July 2018, Dettori was the retained rider in Britain for Sheikh Joaan Al Thani's Al Shaqab Racing.[19][20]

By the end of the 2017 season, he had ridden more than 3,000 winners in Great Britain, over 750 more than the next currently active jockey. [21]

Retirement announcement

Dettori announced on 17 December 2022 his intention to retire as a jockey after a career spanning over 35 years. Dettori said at the time that he would start his final season riding in California before continuing on to Newmarket, then return to California to conclude his career at the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita Park. He referenced football player Cristiano Ronaldo, saying he did not want to end up on the bench like Ronaldo did at that time. "I don't want to end up like that and end up where I'm struggling to get rides in the big races," Dettori said. "At the moment I still have good horses to ride and I want to finish like that."[8]

At the 2022-2023 Santa Anita Classic Meet (the name for its winter race meeting), Dettori finished third in the jockey standings with 26 wins from 144 mounts.[22] Near the end of the Classic Meet, jockey agent Ron Anderson said that Dettori would ride next at Keeneland, and suggested that if Dettori kept doing well, he might reconsider his retirement.[23]

On 6th May 2023, Detorri won his final 2000 Guineas Stakes aboard 7/2 second-favourite Chaldean. [24]

Personal life

Dettori has stated "I am 5 ft 4 in [1.63 m] and weigh 9 st 9 lb [61 kg; 135 lb] but I have to sometimes go down to 8 st 6 lb [54 kg; 118 lb]."[25]

Like many other jockeys and trainers, Dettori lives in Stetchworth near Newmarket, Suffolk. He is married to Catherine and they have five children: Leo, Ella, Mia, Tallula, and Rocco.[citation needed]

Although a republican,[26] he is an ardent Anglophile; he likes English culture and is an Arsenal supporter.[27] He has a line of frozen Italian food and in 2004 he opened a restaurant, Frankie's Italian Bar and Grill in Putney, London, with the chef Marco Pierre White. They subsequently opened a further three restaurants in London (in Knightsbridge, Chiswick and the Selfridges store) and one in Dubai (which opened in 2007).[28]

In 2000, Dettori and Ray Cochrane were aboard a Piper Seneca plane which crashed on take off at Newmarket on its way to Goodwood in Sussex, killing pilot Patrick Mackey.[29] Dettori escaped with a fractured right ankle and an injured thumb,[30] and spent some weeks in Addenbrooke's Hospital.[29]

Thieves stole many of Dettori's medals from his home on the evening of 25 August 2006. Items missing include three Gold Cups awarded in Japan and his MBE.[31]

Major wins

United Kingdom Great Britain

Frankie Dettori has won every Group 1 race in the UK, except for the July Cup.[126]

Bahrain Bahrain

France France

Qatar Qatar

United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates

Germany Germany

Macau Macau

Hong Kong Hong Kong

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago

Slovakia Slovakia

South Africa South Africa

Republic of Ireland Ireland

Sweden Sweden

Italy Italy

Switzerland Switzerland

Canada Canada

Australia Australia

United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates

Turkey Turkey

United States United States

Mauritius Mauritius

Japan Japan

Singapore Singapore

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia