The Legendary Jockey: What Lies Ahead as Horse Racing's Greatest Icon Exits the Stage?

The journey has been an exhilarating, magnificent and sometimes bumpy ride, but this time, it seems the famed jockey's decision is final. The most celebrated rider of the past 40 years is set to enter retirement after the main card at the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar on Saturday, where he has three chances to add a farewell Grade One winner to his almost 300 on his record already. Racing may not see a career quite like it again.

A Household Name

Alongside racing great Lester Piggott and maybe John McCririck in the last 50 years, Frankie Dettori registers with pretty much everyone, without needing a last name. The public knows who he is, even if they possess absolutely no interest in his profession. In a world which has become divided by social media and the internet, Dettori could be the last racing figure who will ever enjoy such instant brand recognition across a broad swathe of Britain's people.

Dettori’s lifetime in horse racing, in fact, dates back to an era when the show A Question Of Sport regularly pulled in more than 10 million audience members, and his three-year role as a team leader was more than enough to establish him as the bubbly, unforgettable figure of the sport. His last year on the program was 2004, that was also the year when he won the top jockey award for the third and last occasion. For much of the British public, though, he has probably been the champion for many seasons after that.

A Hard-Earned Fame

This is, in many ways, a hard-won celebrity, a double-edged reward for incidents on and off the racecourse which have often propelled Dettori onto the front pages, ever since the unforgettable afternoon at Ascot in 1996 when he overcame massive 25,000-1 odds to win all seven races that day.

Back in June 2000, he was rescued from the burning wreckage of a small plane by his fellow rider, Ray Cochrane, after a crash during takeoff where the pilot lost his life. When he finally ended his quest for a Derby winner in 2007, that also became headline news.

And if everyone loves a winner, they often love an imperfect hero and a return all the more. A half-year suspension after a failed drug test for cocaine would have been the end of many riders in their 40s, more than enough time for owners and trainers to seek a younger replacement. For Dettori, however, suspension in December 2012 was a bridge to a renewed association with John Gosden in Newmarket, and a fresh succession of champions and classic victors, such as Enable, Golden Horn and Stradivarius.

Ups and Downs

The celebrated successes and setbacks have been an essential part of his narrative, up to and including the humiliating admission this past March that he filed for bankruptcy after a prolonged dispute with tax authorities over unpaid taxes, a situation that Dettori tried, and did not succeed, to keep confidential.

There were so many twists to the tale, in fact, that it can be easy to forget that absent Dettori’s immense, once-in-a-generation skill, there would have been no story at all.

Early Talent and Instincts

It was evident from his earliest days as a young apprentice that he had an instinctive rapport between horse and rider whenever Dettori was in the saddle.

Steeds performed for him, and got better under him. Back in 1990, he was the first teenager since Lester Piggott to achieve 100 wins in one season, and also marked his emergence at the highest level with two Group One wins at Ascot, on the same card that he would charge through unbeaten just six years later. His iconic flying dismount, copied from the American legend Angel Cordero Jr, was incorporated into Dettori’s repertoire in 1994, and the buzz from winning major races has always stayed with him. Nor has the gift of knowing, with something akin to foresight, where to position, when to make a move and where the gaps will appear.

What Comes Next?

But what next for the recognizable figure of British racing? It won't be simple to finally let go, whether or not Dettori fulfils his apparent desire to take “a few rides in South America, which is something he always wanted to experience”. It is not, after all, a goal that he had mentioned previously.

However, the disastrous choice to follow tax guidance that led to his dispute with HMRC means that he will not draw down the curtain with sufficient funds saved up to kick back and take it easy.

Fresh Ventures

He has already been appointed to a new position as a “global ambassador” with the football super-agent Kia Joorabchian’s burgeoning Amo Racing operation. Dettori told racing presenter Matt Chapman last Friday this was the main reason for his exit now, as well as being able to conclude at the Breeders’ Cup. “Such chances don’t come along, frequently. I like the set-up – this is a young team with huge goals,” explained the jockey.

Joorabchian, himself, was gushing in his praise for his new ambassador at Del Mar on Thursday. “He’s an icon, a genuine legend in the sport,” he stated. “When you talk about great sportsmen like LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Lionel Messi and Pelés and people like that, Frankie is that to horse racing. When visiting Royal Ascot, you see a statue there, you realize that he has influenced on so many lives across the world.

“He’s not here|“He isn't here} to entertain people, he’s here to actually work and he will be working with us closely. He will be involved in all aspects of our business though he won't serve as a racing manager. He is an international ambassador.”

Reality TV are another option, although earlier outings on Celebrity Big Brother and I’m A Celebrity … have tended to reveal a more somber aspect to Dettori’s character, beneath the cheerful public persona. In both programs, he was an early exit of the public vote.

It may be that Dettori personally does not really know what he will do and how to spend his time after his riding career are over. And for another 24 hours at least, he remains a top-level professional jockey, focused on three mounts at one of the globe's prestigious and dazzling events in the calendar.

One Last Mount

A five-year-old filly named Argine will be Dettori’s final Grade One mount in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, the identical event in which he registered his first Breeders’ Cup success in 1994. Her performance in Japan in Japan suggests that she has something to improve to compete, yet few jockeys historically have risen to an occasion like Frankie Dettori.

One last time, cue Frankie?