Frankie Dettori, whose Cape Derby win in January was to presage a highly successful British season, will be back in South Africa in mid-November as a member of the visiting international jockeys team, writes Michael Clower on www.goldcircle.co.za
Frankie Dettori – legend
When he heard that Larry Wainstein was contacting potential team members Dettori rang the Racing Association boss and asked: “Is there a seat left on the bus?”
RA CEO Larry Wainstein
Dettori also took part in last year’s competition and rode a double at Turffontein. The other internationals who have accepted are nine times Irish champion Pat Smullen, Hong Kong-based Mauritian Karis Teetan, Brazilian Silvestre de Sousa (champion in Britain in 2015), British-based Italian Andrea Atzeni and Australian Hugh Bowman.
Wainstein said: “The format has changed this year. There will be no Port Elizabeth, just the one day at Turffontein when there will be six races reserved for the competition.”
He added that Kenilworth, dropped in 2015, would have been brought back into the fold last year had the competition not clashed with the big Lanzerac/Selangor Cup day when owners and trainers wanted their own jockeys in the valuable races. The same consideration was likely to apply this year.
