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By Murray Fish · Posted
report it to the Police! -
By Murray Fish · Posted
Frankie Dettori brought his 40-year riding career to an end with a Grade 1 success on his final day in the saddle. The most prominent global jockey of the past half-century had elite success in 17 different countries, but famously never in Australia. Run The Numbers digs into his remarkable career. By Bren O'Brien ● Run The Numbers ● February 3, 2026 Frankie Dettori’s record in the saddle will ensure he will be remembered as one of the world’s greatest jockeys. (Photo by John Walton – PA Images via Getty Images) Over the past 40 years, Frankie Dettori did enough off the track to last most people 10 lifetimes, and none of those people could have also ridden 288 Group/Grade 1 winners. It is arguable that no human participant has enjoyed the acclaim and fame of the Italian-born jockey, who survived a plane crash, endured highly publicised ocaine-related suspensions and, more recently, bankruptcy and multiple aborted retirements during a roller coaster career which saw him more celebrity than jockey. He greeted the camera more than 3300 times as a winning jockey and many more times as the face of racing, a true showman across an era that transformed racing into a global sport. While he was apprenticed to Luca Cumani, Dettori began race riding in Italy, riding his first winner in Turin on November 16, 1986, before gaining his British apprentice licence in December 1986 on his 16th birthday. His first British winner came in June the following year. Advertisement Within two years, he was champion apprentice, equalling Pat Eddery’s then-apprenticeship record with his 71 winners in 1989. The following year, the first of those 288 Group 1 winners came via Markofdistinction in the 1990 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. He made the surprising decision to join the Hong Kong jockey ranks in 1993, a precursor to the global ambition that drove much of his career. However, an untimely caution for drug possession led to the offer from the Hong Kong Jockey Club being rescinded, a sliding doors moment that would create its own history. The following year, he set a new mark for the most wins in a British season, 244, as he claimed the first of three British jockeys championships. He became the rider of first choice for the growing global power Godolphin and, in September 1996, completed perhaps his greatest individual feat when he won all seven races on the one Ascot program, including the Queen Elizabeth II, a race he would win on six occasions all up. The feat, marked with what would become his trademark flying dismount, catapulted him beyond the fame of the racing world and into global prominence. Advertisement It was a place he occupied throughout the rest of his remarkable career. Across that time, he won a record six Prix de l’Arc de Triomphes, including back-to-back wins aboard Enable in 2017 and 2018. He won seven King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, four Dubai World Cups, three Japan Cups, two Epsom Derbies, five Breeders’ Cup Turfs and 14 Breeders’ Cup races in total. His eight Ascot Gold Cup winners included a hat-trick on Stradivarius, a horse on which he won 15 stakes races. He had 77 Royal Ascot wins and was the leading jockey at that famous carnival on seven different occasions. On four occasions, he was awarded the world’s leading jockey, the most recent in 2020, the year he celebrated his 50th birthday. His elite victories came in all the major European countries, Great Britain, Italy, France, Ireland, Germany and Hungary. Advertisement He also had 15 Grade 1 wins in the United States, eight in Canada, 19 in the UAE, eight in Hong Kong, four in Japan and one in South Africa. He also rode local Group 1 winners in Qatar, Singapore and Trinidad and Tobago. Not on that list, of course, was Australia, which proved the fly in the ointment for Dettori’s plans of global domination. He rode in Australia’s great race, the Melbourne Cup, on 17 different occasions, but could never win it, twice finishing second. His biggest success in Australia came in the Group 2 Moir Stakes aboard Spinning Hill in 2002. It became a Group 1 race 12 years later, Dettori chose South America for a farewell tour, and while he notched winners at San Isidro in Argentina in December and at Maronas in Uruguay earlier this month, it was Gavea in Brazil where his storied career would finish. And what a final chapter it was. He already had a winner at Gavea before taking the ride aboard $26 outsider Bet You Can, in the Brazilian equivalent of the 2000 Guineas, the Grade 1 Grande Premio Estado, on Sunday. The pair defied their higher-rated rivals to record a monumental success, which was to be Dettori’s final win of an extraordinary career*. We’ll leave the asterisk here, because Dettori has promised retirement only to come back before. Regardless of that, and all the off-track drama, his numbers stand up to any of the best jockeys in history. Frankie Dettori By the Numbers: Over 3300 – winners in career 288 – Group/Grade 1 wins 244 – Most winners in a British season (1994) 77 – Total winners at Royal Ascot 71 – Winners as a British apprentice 55 – Age at retirement 17- Number of countries where he won a Group 1 race (local included) 17- Number of rides in the Melbourne Cup without success 14 – Number of wins in Breeders’ Cup races 7- Number of races won on the same program at Ascot in September 1996 6 – Number of victories in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe 3 – Number of British jockeys championships 1 – Number of Grade 1 wins in Brazil 0 – Number of Group 1 wins in Australia https://thestraight.com.au/run-the-numbers-a-fitting-farewell-for-frankie/?utm_campaign=Daily_News_-_Feb_4&utm_content=link&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Indiegraf -
From someone who sees nothing wrong in striking a horse between the ears with a whip I'm certainly not surprised you find nothing wrong with a jockey elbowing a woman in the neck/chest Liam Lawson's old boss commented on him "driving with his elbows out" and thankfully ALL sporting codes have rules that prevent basic cheating Like jockeys elbowing others..highly dangerous and illegal The RIB should be ashamed of themselves for saying 'he's very lucky he's not on an extra charge' maybe once I've sent 'bono's screenshot (thanks bono) they'll realise how gutless they are -
Yes, let's wait and see if he's one of the protected species. Young trainer showing a lot of ability in the training ranks- however the rules are for everybody. No doubt in his submissions on penalty there will more than likely be a few letters of support from the elite owners in the industry that he trains for. What would a DQ look like for him- well probably only stop him going to the tracks races an trials- just stay on the farm and train from there. There's bound to be someone waiting in the wings with a Trainers license application ready in case the worst happens and Mr Cole has a holiday over Autumn/ Winter until the end of the season. -
Moi was going to press the 'like' button on that one...cos i know you're an amazing 'horseman' can you please take my restriction off so i can do so? thanks
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