The final chapter to Frankie Dettori’s feted 35-year-old riding career could not have been better scripted – one last flying dismount for the world to see.
At his final race-riding meeting, which came at Gavea racecourse in Brazil on Feb 1, the flamboyant 55-year-old Italian jockey got his fairy-tale ending with a double.
Dettori, who had first retired in 2023 but changed his mind to resurrect his career in the US since late 2023, announced that he would this time hang up his boots for good back in October 2025.
But he would not bow out before one last fling at the Breeders’ Cup in Del Mar, US, on Nov 1 and at farewell cameos in South America, a box he always wanted to tick.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” he then said of one of the rare continents he had not conquered.
He could not win in the Breeders’ Cup meeting, but he was able to get on the board in Argentina, Uruguay and at the last Brazilian leg of his tour in Gavea, Rio de Janeiro.
Dettori first scored an easy win aboard Speak Alpha before the last of his 3,300-odd winners came with the aptly-named Bet You Can landing the Grade 1 Grande Premio Estado do Rio de Janeiro, the first leg of Brazil’s Triple Crown.
“I can rest now, whatever else happens today,” said an emotional Dettori after his trademark star jump. “I couldn’t have asked for a better way to finish.
“From the minute I got on the horse, it has been phenomenal. It’s a great place to finish, trust me. I’m very happy.”
The three-time British champion jockey has won the biggest races in the world, but is probably better remembered for riding all seven winners on the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes card at Ascot in 1996, later known as the “Magnificent Seven”, while he added the Epsom Derby to his glittering CV in 2007 on Authorized before doubling up on Golden Horn in 2015.
The globetrotting jockey has showcased his talent almost everywhere, from his original UK and European base to the Middle East, especially during his stint as Godolphin’s number one rider, and Asia, mostly Hong Kong and Japan.
His bulging trophy cabinet features six Arc’s, four Dubai World Cups, three Japan Cups, three Hong Kong Cups, among others.
Dettori also made headlines when he survived a plane crash with fellow jockey Ray Cochrane (who pulled him out of the wreckage of the small plane, but could not save the pilot) in 2000.
As illustrious as his riding career was on and off the track (his outspoken post-race interviews were seldom boring), it was, however, marred by an embarrassing bankruptcy in 2023 after he could not pay a bill of more than £750,000 (S$1.3 million) to the taxman.
But to his legion of fans, the setback did little to dent his global image as one of the most recognisable racing faces in the world, and one who will be sorely missed from the racetracks.
