Frankie Dettori is certainly one of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries’ truly great international jockeys. Italian by birth — he rode his first winner there — we have been lucky in England that he came to live in Newmarket aged fifteen and has ridden mainly here.
A great and popular figure, quietly and privately he has done much for disabled people. In fact, he is a good example by any standards of a superb sportsman on and off the racecourse.
Perhaps most famous for riding all seven winners at Ascot on 28 September 1996, his record in the English classics over 30 years gives a true indication of his ability and dedication.
There is no doubt that England’s five classic races, the 1,000 and 2,000 Guineas which both run in late April/early May at Newmarket over a mile, the Oaks and Derby which run in early June at Epsom over a mile and a half, and the St Leger which runs nearly two miles in mid-September at Doncaster, are very, very important races on the international racing scene.
Frankie Dettori's record in them is super — 23 wins. Since 1945, he and Lester Piggott are the only jockeys to ride at least two winners of each of the classics. To put Frankie’s record into perspective, Sir Gordon Richards, 26-time champion flat jockey between 1925 and 1953, rode only fourteen classic winners.
This highly readable but erudite book devotes a double page spread to every winning ride, and there is a color section of photographs of him aboard his winning mounts by the famous racing journalist John Crofts.
Dettori's first classic winner was in the 1994 Oaks at Epsom on Balanchine and his last in 2023, once again in the Oaks, on Soul Sister. This book is a superb record of greatness in the saddle over 30 years.
