Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 12:35 pm Post subject: Frankie
Greg Wood The Observer, Sunday 26 July 2009 Article history
When the eighth-most successful Flat jockey in Britain this year arrived at Ascot on Friday, no one gave him a second glance. For the champion apprentice, the reception was the same. But when the man who currently sits 43rd in the championship table appeared a few minutes later, the autograph hunters suddenly woke up. He may have ridden just 30 winners this season, but the normal, cut-throat rules of racing – only as good as your last winner, the table never lies – do not apply to Frankie Dettori.
Dettori is one of those rare jockeys for whom a christian name is enough. Only Lester Piggott, and, arguably, Kieren Fallon, have achieved the same status in the last 40 years. "Frankie" has been the champion jockey three times in a 20-year career, and once in the past 14 years, but as far as much of the British public is concerned, he must be the champion because he's the only jockey they can name.
In this sense, the fact that 42 jockeys have ridden more winners than Dettori does not really matter, and it does not seem to bother him too much either. Most jockeys have their moods – it comes with the uncertainty, the danger and the semi-starvation – and despite the ray-of-sunshine image from his Question Of Sport years, Dettori is no different. But, as he heads towards his 39th birthday, Dettori seems to have acquired a stability and satisfaction with the jockey's life that all of them crave but very few achieve. For him, 28 winners from 168 rides in Britain this year is not a problem, it is a sign that the treatment is working.
"I don't have to chase anything any more," he says. "I just have to chase what I enjoy. I'm not interested in the championship, I'm not interested in statistics. I'm only interested in big winners.
"The only thing I enjoy now is riding the big meetings and the big weekends. I've cut out a lot of the nonsense races, when you're just turning up to show people you're there. I've gone beyond that now. I don't enjoy riding in the nine o'clock at Kempton, so why bother doing it?
"I think it means that I'm a much happier person, but I'm a better jockey as well. I'm less tired, I'm more focused, and when I go racing it's because I want to, and I want to win."
Dettori decided that his title-chasing days were over after his brutal, 192-winner championship season in 2004. Since then, he has finished 15th, fifth, 17th and 29th in terms of winners. If the championship were based on prize-money, though, he would have finished 10th, first, first and second over the same period. He is still a great jockey riding at the peak of his powers, but he is doing it on his own terms.
He hopes, too, that Godolphin, his primary employer for more than a decade, may be turning a corner as the cash-laden final months of the Flat season come into view. This week's five-day Glorious Goodwood meeting, which challenges Flat jockeys like few others, will test that theory. "It's a tricky course and you've got to get everything right," he says, "but that's what makes Goodwood so exciting. If you can get to Saturday and say that you've only messed up on one or two, you're a genius.
"If you're drawn inside, you still have to get a run, if you're drawn outside, you have to ride so you don't lose too much ground, and you're going to have a maximum field in almost every race.
"But it's a beautiful place to be. When you ride in the long-distance races, you can stop for a couple of furlongs to give them a breather, and you look out over the valley and towards the grandstand and just think how lucky you are to be there. I've had 48 Goodwood winners, it's been very kind to me."
Dettori will ride Forgotten Voice, the Hunt Cup winner, in the Sussex Stakes on Wednesday and, while he was on the mark aboard Kirklees in a Group Two at York yesterday, Godolphin will test the water with their better two‑year‑olds in the Vintage Stakes and the Richmond.
"We see Goodwood as the halfway point of the season," he says. "We're beginning to hit form and we've still got the second half of the year to come. We've got Kite Wood to run in the Leger, some nice two-year-olds and it's looking promising for the back end.
"I was in the same sort of position last year, and as it turned out I won the Leger [on Conduit] and the Breeders' Cup Classic."
Dettori's ride on Raven's Pass was as clear a statement as you could hope to see that his ability as a big-race jockey remains irresistible. It was not cunning, flashy or daring, just ruthlessly efficient, as he tracked Curlin, the favourite, as if attached to his tail by a short length of rope. In every stride, Dettori was exactly where he wanted to be, and there was never any danger that the moment would get the better of him, as it had on Swain in the same race a decade before.
Swain veered across the track under a relentless left-hand drive. Raven's Pass ran straight for the line as Dettori just did what was necessary.
"I'd said to my wife that I had a really good feeling that I was going to win on Raven's Pass. It was 10 years after I'd messed up with Swain, and I thought 'this time is my time'.
"I really get a buzz from going abroad and riding in the big races. I've had experience all over the world and it just gets an extra edge out of me. And when people think I'm not riding that much, they are only looking at English racing.
"My year started in Dubai in January and it will end in Hong Kong in December, and I can't remember the last time I had a Sunday off. I'll be in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Turkey. People say they haven't seen me, but it's because I'm somewhere else."
It will be 19 years in September since Dettori broke through at the top level with a Group One double at Ascot's Festival meeting. "I'm over 160 [Group One wins] now," he says, "so I haven't done too badly. I'm coming up to 39, but I still love it, and I've learned that sometimes the winners come when you least expect it. Look at Conduit in the Leger, I only got that because Ryan Moore had the choice and he went for Doctor Fremantle.
"You just have to be patient. Don't lose your cool, don't lose your ambition, just carry on. And don't worry about numbers."
and it shows coz at the smaller meets he is absolute shite.if you dont enjoy it,get out.or try returning the punters money when you give up trying 2 out.....do us all a favour dettori.take a leaf out of mccoys book or retire now and join fat al on c4 so they can all drool over you like they usually do
Sounds more a personal through jealousy of the guy.
He did all the shite at the small tracks. Hence how he has been champion Jockey. Just because he chooses to no longer chase that doesn't make him any less of a jockey.
Having met the guy when I was with Mike Cattermole I found him to be very charming and personable. And what a fantastic ride he gave one of your favourite horses in the Breeders Cup Classic last year.
as for the ravens pass ride....e ahern,j crowley,r moore,j fortune,c catlin,r hughes,t durcan,k ghonowa,g baker,r havlin,j spencer,r mullin,h turner,j murtagh,t queally,p hanagan,j p guillambert,a munro,r hills,m hills.......................all jockeys who woulda won on ravens that day.....oh,and probably AP too!!!!!
I think that is a rather bold and incorrect statement. It is a massive race. You need a jockey who could take the pressure of an occasion like that. Only a top drawer jockey can handle that. He is one of the greatest jockeys ever and if he wants to take it easier in the twilight of his career then good on him I say.
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