Still winning, jockey Frankie Dettori postpones retirement plans

Back in the late 1980s, the jockeys’ room at Santa Anita, Hollywood Park and Del Mar was full of riders who would fill a book of Who’s Who in the history of jockeys. Bill Shoemaker, Laffit Pincay, Jr., Chris McCarron, Eddie Delahoussaye, Gary Stevens and Fernando Toro were just some of the riders who stood out.

But there was another name you can add to that list. Frankie Dettori was an apprentice on the local circuit during that time before deciding to go all international on us and eventually stamp himself as one of the best and most popular riders in the world.

Dettori, now 52 and riding as well as ever, has won just about every big race there is to win. He’s won a staggering 287 Grade I races during a career that spans more than 35 years. Perhaps his biggest achievement was riding all seven winners on the British Festival of Racing Day at Ascot Racecourse in September 1996. Just to show he’s not simply a European sensation, the Italian native has won 10 Breeders’ Cup races and has mounts in five of this weekend’s 14 races at Santa Anita.

So you see, Dettori is kind of a big deal in a sport whose fans treat their favorites like royalty. From his flying dismounts after victories to a personality that makes him beloved, not only in Italy but at most any track he sets up shop to add to his amazing list of accomplishments.

“Sometimes it’s a bit overwhelming,” Dettori said during an exclusive interview with the Southern California News Group this week. “I started 36 years ago and I never thought I’d have a statue of me.”

Dettori is so popular in Great Britain that Ascot has not one, but two statues of him on its grounds. Newmarket has a mural on one of its walls depicting the highlights of his career, which includes two English Derby victories with Authorized (2007) and Golden Horn (2015) and seven wins in the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

He gave his loyal fans a big scare at the beginning of the year when he announced that the 2023 Breeders’ Cup would be the final competition of his career. He’d ride off into the sunset with all the accolades and all the hardware that he’s collected over the years.

But he recently decided that he’s going to ride full-time at Santa Anita this winter and spring, search for his first Kentucky Derby winner and then hang up his stick after next year’s Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar.

“I’m 52 years old,” he said. “It was time to pass the reins … everything is a new generation. I thought December would be a good time to call it quits, take a year to say my goodbyes to everyone. Saying goodbyes at all the tracks was amazing.”

But recently he decided he’s not ready to give up a sport he loves so dearly.

“What I didn’t calculate was I’m having my best year since 2019,” Dettori said. He went on to list the stakes races he’s won overseas this year, and when you’re winning stake after stake after stake, why retire?

“It never stopped,” Dettori said. “I just kept on winning. I got to August and I’m still doing well. I didn’t plan it to be that way. I talked to my wife and she told me to carry on if I felt up for it. It wasn’t easy to say goodbye, but I was winning all these big races.”

So he decided to keep going for another year. He chose the U.S. because he wanted a new challenge, the riding style suits him and he enjoys riding here.

“It’s a good way to finish up my career,” he said. “Basically, I’d like to win the Kentucky Derby and spend the summer at Del Mar. Then I’ll take it from there.”

But the international star nearly didn’t get a chance to showcase his talents for as long as he has. On June 1, 2000, he and fellow jockey Ray Cochrane were aboard a Piper Seneca plane that crashed on takeoff at Newmarket on its way to Goodwood in Sussex. Cochrane pulled Dettori from the wreckage but was unable to save the pilot. Dettori suffered a broken ankle and facial cuts and spent several days in the hospital.

“I shouldn’t be here. I’m lucky to be alive,” he said. “I was 29 years old. I had a 6-month-old son, just got married. The plane was on its way down and I’m thinking I’m dead. The only thing I was thinking was, ‘C’mon God. You’re taking me now?’ I’d just gotten started and I was disappointed that He was going to take me.”

God didn’t take him that day. Perhaps He’s as big a racing fan as many of us and decided Dettori’s career was something we all needed to see. It’s been something to behold and his fans now have the opportunity to watch him for another year.