Racing Fans Prepare for Frankie’s Final Farewell

There’s a handful of people who come along in horse racing and end up transcending their sport. Frankie Dettori certainly fits that bill. If you don’t know him from his exploits on the racetrack over the past four decades, then you’ll probably have seen him pop up in A Question of Sport, or Celebrity Big Brother, or even at the Harlow Playhouse. The jockey is a celebrity sportsperson, but he only achieved the celebrity prefix by being the best in the world at his chosen sport.

Dettori is Italian, of course, but he is widely seen as an honourary Brit. He was born in Milan, but he resides close to the headquarters of British racing, Newmarket. After a career that stretched from the 1980s to today, Dettori announced that 2023 would be his final year in the saddle. Thus far, 2023 has acted like a long farewell tour as Dettori visits the venues and runs in races for the final time. He certainly isn’t there just to make up the numbers: Dettori won yet another Ascot Gold Cup in June, and he has several other big races this year.

America will be the scene of Frankie’s final bow

Dettori’s plan is to step down after the Breeders’ Cup festival in the United States in November. However, he will be popping up here and there in the UK as the British flat racing season reaches its conclusion. He will hang up his stirrups for the last time in front of the UK crowds on 21 October at the scene of his greatest triumph, Ascot racecourse.

Back in 1996, Ascot was the venue for the “Magnificent Seven”. It is viewed as one of the greatest feats in sports history, and it will likely never be repeated. Dettori went through the card, winning all seven races in a single day – something never achieved (or close to being achieved) at that level in racing before. There isn’t really a comparison in other sports. It also goes down in horse racing betting folklore as one of the most miraculous moments – some punters had backed Frankie to do it all on the day, with combined odds of over 25,000/1.

A list of accolades that will never be forgotten

Dettori is much more than the Magnificent Seven, of course. He has won nine Ascot Gold Cups, the 1,000 and 2,000 Guineas four times each, the Derby twice, the St Leger six times, and the Oaks seven times. That’s only a taste of what he has achieved, and that’s only his big UK race wins. Abroad, he has won most of the world’s biggest racing prizes, including an incredible six Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe races.

Now as the curtain begins to close on his career, there are rumours that he will change his mind. Many sports stars, jockeys included, find it hard to give up the limelight, and there is a suggestion that Dettori could be offered mega money to continue racing in some capacity, particularly in the Middle East. But so far, Dettori seems to be sticking to his guns, calling time on a racing career that has delighted UK fans, and many more around the world, for over 35 years.