The most famous big-race jockey of the last three decades will struggle for a ride, never mind a winner, at Glorious GoodwoodThere is a scrolling electronic billboard a few hundred metres from Brighton station, positioned to catch the eye of tens of thousands of day-trippers heading home from the beach, and an ad for next month’s Glorious Goodwood festival is currently on the rotation. Amid the scenes of partying racegoers, photo-finishes and the track’s breathtaking downland setting, just one current jockey gets the honour of a snapshot all to himself and it is, of course, the only one who needs no introduction. Frankie Dettori shifts tickets for the races like no one else can.Unless his “sabbatical” from the John Gosden...
Saeed bin Suroor’s five-year-old has yet to win a Group One race but has what it takes to upset the unbeaten BaaeedBaaeed could set off as the shortest-priced favourite for the Lockinge Stakes since the mighty Frankel a decade ago at Newbury on Saturday, but this may not be as straightforward an assignment for William Haggas’s unbeaten colt as the betting might suggest.Baaeed was flawless in six starts last season and has a big year ahead of him at the highest level, but he is only 5lb clear of the field on Timeform’s ratings, has not seen a racecourse for 210 days and faces three significant rivals that have all had at least one run in 2022. Continue reading...
A misjudged strategy by the normally masterly Frankie Dettori scuppered the horse’s chances of a fourth triumph in this raceRacing history was denied in emphatic fashion at Royal Ascot when Stradivarius, the usually mighty chestnut, finished a disappointing fourth and missed out on becoming only the second horse to win the Gold Cup four times. In a strangely misjudged race by the normally masterly Frankie Dettori, the jockey and Stradivarius suffered. Stuck in heavy traffic on the rail at the home turn, they struggled to find the space to have a sustained crack at the impressive Subjectivist, who streaked home to win by five lengths.Stradivarius was almost 10 lengths behind with three furlongs to run and, from that position, victory...
We’ve tried to identify the most impressive big-race moments in the rider’s long career. What would your list look like?Many happy returns to Frankie Dettori, who turns 50 on Tuesday. Yes, that fresh-faced cheeky chappy who went through the card at Ascot and presented Top Of The Pops has been around for half a century, which means you must be old too! Related: Talking Horses: Colin Tizzard blames sticky ground for recent defeats Tips by Chris Cook Continue reading...
The Italian jockey is now 0-17 in ‘the race that stops a nation’ and came away with a ban for the second time in five yearsFrankie Dettori came heartbreakingly close to a first success in the Melbourne Cup but, instead of lifting the trophy, he ended his day with a dressing-down from the stewards, who demoted his mount from second place to fourth. The veteran jockey delivered a fine ride aboard the 25-1 shot Master Of Reality and they briefly seemed to have pinched the £2m prize. Instead, they were collared in the last two strides by Vow And Declare, and then ruled to have interfered with the fast-finishing Il Paridiso, fourth past the post.“I want to cry,” Dettori muttered,...