At the age of 53, Frankie Dettori will be looking to add to his 15 Breeders’ Cup victories with eight rides on Friday and Saturday.
He last won the Breeders’ Cup Classic in in 2008 on Raven’s Pass and will partner locally-based Newgate on Saturday. Newgate recently finished a close third in the California Crown Stakes Presented by SirDavis American Whisky.
SP photographer Candiese Lenferna got up close to Frankie today!
Imagine Tom Brady or Lebron James with a signature celebratory leap – that’s Frankie Dettori. Widely considered one of the greatest international riders of all time, Dettori is perhaps best known to fans for his patented winner’s circle “flying dismount,” which has seen him soar off the backs of many a champion racehorse.
Just when it appeared Dettori’s career was winding down a few years ago, he decided to relocate to the U.S. and make one last push.
The Telepgraph reported today that the change in continent and climate has wrought a change in Dettori. At 53, he is fitter, lighter, keener, fresher, hungrier, better even and, according to his wife Catherine, happier than he has been for years.
The daily grind of slogging round Britain was a chore that demotivated him to the point he was riding only on high days and bye days and purposely taking fewer than 200 rides a year. His final year in Britain saw him take just 126 rides. His 30 winners netted £5.8 million in prize money.
In the US, his whole outlook has changed.
With a month still to run before he returns to Britain for a break and his birthday, and the small matter of $34 million up for grabs this weekend, he has ridden 410 horses, 72 winners, including six in a row at Santa Anita on Derby day in April, for $12 million (£9.2 million).
Since making the move, he’s won more than a dozen graded stakes races and captured his 15th career Breeders’ Cup win last year aboard Inspiral in the Maker’s Mark Filly & Mare Turf.
Dettori also holds the distinction of riding the last internationally-based horse to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic – Raven’s Pass in 2008.
This year he will be aboard locally-based Newgate who recently finished a close third in the California Crown Stakes Presented by SirDavis American Whisky.
