Frankie Dettori to Retire
Horse racing legend Frankie Dettori has announced his intention to retire next year. The UK-based jockey will bow out at the end of the 2023 flat season, in less than eleven months’ time. Dettori announced that he will spend ten weeks in California before continuing his farewell tour.
Dettori wants to leave racing on a high and has planned a year-long farewell tour. ©Aliaksei Semirski/Pexels
Legendary Jockey
Jockey Frankie Dettori has revealed that he plans to retire at the end of the 2023 Flat season. The Italian horse racing icon spent the majority of his professional career based in the UK. At 52, Dettori is one of the biggest names in racing. He has been named the British flat racing Champion Jockey three times and has ridden the winners of more than 500 Group races.
Since his first win in 1987, Dettori has ridden over 3,300 British winners. His accolades also include 21 British Classic wins. His most celebrated achievement came in 1996, when the jockey rode all seven winners on British Champions’ Day at Ascot Racecourse. Remembered as his Magnificent Seven, winning all seven races came in at odds of 25,051 to 1.
However, Dettori has decided that the time has come to draw his professional career to an end. Making the announcement, he said that it was not a decision he could make lightly. 2023 is to be his final professional year as a jockey. Dettori stated that while his heart wants to carry on riding, he wants to stop at the top, adding:
“I’ve been thinking about it for a few weeks and I’ve decided with the firepower I have next year and the horses I have to ride I can finish my career on a big note. Fingers crossed I stay in one piece and we’ll give it a good go next year.”
Dettori revealed that he went to his dad, who also had a successful career as a jockey in Italy, for advice on leaving the sport. Gianfranco Dettori retired at 51 after winning an Italian riding championship thirteen times. He added that his wife and children at delighted at the prospect of his retirement, as they have barely seen him for 35 years.
Farewell Tour
Dettori is set to begin his final season at Santa Anita on December 26th. The jockey, who turned 52 last Thursday, will fly to America next week ahead of his ten-week stint in California. His last rides as a professional could take place at the same Californian track during the 2023 Breeders’ Cup in November.
He has called on his fans to make his farewell tour a huge celebration ahead of his retirement. While he is preparing to take on a number of international excursions in his final year, Dettori has assured supporters that his focus remains on his adopted home of the UK. He will continue as John and Thady Gosden’s principal jockey.
Dettori has been working as a jockey with the Gosdens since 2015. Last June there appeared to be a falling out between jockey and trainer, as they split. However, the sabbatical did not last long as Dettori returned to ride for the Gosdens in July.
In June 2000, Dettori survived a plane crash when the Piper Seneca he was travelling on crashed near Newmarket. Fellow jockey Ray Cochrane pulled Dettori from the burning wreckage, but pilot Patrick Mackey was killed. It was later described as a miracle that anyone made it out alive.
In 2012, the jockey received a six-month ban after failing a drugs test. It marked a low point for Dettori who later admitted to having used cocaine. During his absence from racing, he took part in the eleventh series of Celebrity Big Brother and was the fifth to be evicted. Dettori made his racing comeback on May 31st 2013 at Epsom.
Industry Pays Tribute
The racing world has paid tribute to Dettori since the announcement of his upcoming retirement. Twenty-time champion jump jockey AP McCoy, who retired in 2015, said that the hardest thing is knowing when to stop. Describing Dettori as “racing’s Lionel Messi”, he said that Frankie is going out at the top.
Those sentiments were echoed by Dettori himself, who said that he wants to be competitive enough to do his horses and their owners justice. He added that he doesn’t want to find himself in the same situation as Ronaldo, playing one day and on the bench the next.
Legendary trainer Luca Cumani also paid tribute to Dettori’s illustrious career. Cumani described it as sad that the jockey is retiring while he is still able to ride in a beautiful way. Dettori trained as a Champion Apprentice under Cumani’s tutelage. Cumani continued:
“You just take it for granted that a talent like his would be around forever, but unfortunately it is not to be and he goes out on his own choosing. So it is sad, but I am glad for him that he has been able to make his own decision. We’ve had some fantastic times together and it’s sad because it is an end of an era, but it is an era which he has filled with his presence and with great skill.”
For many, although it is a topic up for debate, Frankie Dettori is the GOAT. Amongst current riders he is unequalled, and compared with past riders there are few that could surpass his talents. The most likely contender would be the late Lester Piggott, who passed away earlier this year. Piggott himself described Dettori as the greatest jockey currently riding.
