1. Frankie Dettori was British flat racing Champion Jockey three times and rode the winners of 287 Group 1 races including 23 winners of the British Classic Races.
35 Facts About Frankie Dettori
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Frankie Dettori's most celebrated achievement was riding all seven winners on British Festival of Racing Day at Ascot Racecourse on 28 September 1996.
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Frankie Dettori was appointed stable jockey for Sheikh Mohammed's newly founded Godolphin Racing in 1994 and during the next eighteen years rode most of his worldwide big race victories in Godolphin's royal-blue colours.
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Frankie Dettori announced in December 2022 that 2023 would be his final year of professional riding.
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Frankie Dettori was born in Milan, Italy, on 15 December 1970.
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Frankie Dettori's father, Gianfranco Dettori, was a 13 times Italian Champion Jockey, who had won the British 2,000 Guineas in 1975 on the Henry Cecil trained Bolkonski and in 1976 on Wollow, trained by Cecil.
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In 1989 Frankie Dettori became champion apprentice jockey with 75 wins and rode his first winner of a group race, Legal Case in the Select Stakes at Goodwood.
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Still only nineteen, Frankie Dettori became the first teenager since Lester Piggott to win more than 100 races in a season, finishing on a total of 149, fourth in the champion jockey table.
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In 1992 Frankie Dettori won the Prix du Jockey Club on Polytain, trained by Antonio Spanu in France, and the Ascot Gold Cup on Drum Taps, trained by Lord Huntingdon.
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Frankie Dettori was given a police caution for the cocaine offence, after which he concentrated on racing with a renewed dedication, riding 149 winners as a free-lance in 1993.
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In September 1993, Frankie Dettori was signed to ride Sheikh Mohammed's horses trained by Gosden.
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When Sheikh Mohammed set up the Godolphin international racing operation in 1994, Frankie Dettori, who had already ridden the Sheikh's horses in training with Gosden, was signed as retained jockey.
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On 28 September 1996 Frankie Dettori achieved a remarkable feat when he "went through the card", riding all seven winners at the British Festival of Racing at Ascot racecourse.
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Frankie Dettori suffered a broken ankle and facial cuts and spent several days in Addenbrooke's Hospital.
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In December 2012 Frankie Dettori was given a six-month suspension after a failed a drug test in France in September.
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Frankie Dettori admitted to having used cocaine, telling Clare Balding in an interview on Channel 4:"Things were going bad, I was depressed and I guess a moment of weakness and I fell for it and I've only got myself to blame".
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In 2016, Frankie Dettori rode Galileo Gold to win the 2000 Guineas for Al Shaqab Racing.
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Frankie Dettori re-established an association with trainer Gosden, notably securing victories on Golden Horn in the 2015 Derby and Enable in the 2017 Oaks and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
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In 2018 Frankie Dettori decided to end his formal association with Al Shaqab Racing in order to concentrate on riding for Gosden.
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Frankie Dettori rode the Juddmonte-owned Enable to further Group 1 victories, including another win in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
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On 17 December 2022 during an interview with ITV Racing, Frankie Dettori announced that he would be retiring at the end of the following season, with his final rides likely to come at the November 2023 Breeders' Cup meeting at Santa Anita Park in California.
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Frankie Dettori said that, having just turned 52, he wanted to retire while he was still getting good horses to ride in the big races.
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Frankie Dettori started his 2023 farewell tour with a ten-week stint in the United States, based at Santa Anita Park for its winter racing.
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In October 2023, Frankie Dettori announced that, instead of retiring, he would be moving to California and continuing to race in the United States and on the international circuit.
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On what was scheduled to be his final day of racing in Britain, Frankie Dettori rode Trawlerman to victory in the Long Distance Cup before completing a double on King of Steel in the Champion Stakes at Ascot on British Champions' Day on 21 October 2023.
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Frankie Dettori watched as Queen Camilla unveiled a statue of him at the racecourse.
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Frankie Dettori was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1998.
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Frankie Dettori spent 12 days in the camp before becoming the first contestant to be voted off.
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In 2004 Dettori teamed up with chef Marco Pierre White to open a chain of several Italian restaurants called Frankie's Bar and Grill.
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Frankie Dettori has published a cookbook and produced a line of frozen Italian foods.
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Frankie Dettori married Catherine Allen on 20 July 1997 at the Catholic Church in Newmarket.
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Frankie Dettori was awarded an honorary MBE for services to racing in the 2001 New Year Honours.
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In 2011 Frankie Dettori was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science at Anglia Ruskin University.
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Frankie Dettori made use of an alleged tax avoidance scheme devised by Paul Baxendale-Walker, which led to a legal dispute with HMRC.
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In March 2025, Frankie Dettori announced that he had filed for bankruptcy as his financial advisors had failed to reach an agreement with HMRC.