He’d done it all, won almost everything, and Frankie Dettori was tired of it. After three decades as one of the greatest jockeys in the history of thoroughbred racing, he’d lost his mojo.
Constant travel was the tipping point. Meetings at English tracks usually last only two or three days, and the long drives between them a couple times a week were boring and exhausting. The world’s most charismatic rider no longer enjoyed what had made him a wealthy international celebrity.
He gradually reduced his workload, and in 2022, his last full year in Britain, he accepted only 126 rides. Yet he “wasn’t ready to retire,” so it was time for a change. He and his wife, Catherine, decided to move to Santa Anita in Arcadia, California, 5,408 miles from their home in Newmarket, England, for what was expected to be a farewell tour. Two years later, Dettori is rejuvenated and on top again.
After a slow 2023 in America (29 victories), Dettori got rolling this year, winning 76 times all over the country, including 15 graded stakes, as of Nov. 14, according to Equibase. At nearly 54, the son of a champion jockey and a circus acrobat is riding high in his new homeland.
“I should have done this 10 years ago,” he told bloodhorse.com in August. “Things have been going good, and I am truly enjoying the lifestyle here. I got an amazing welcome that gave me the confidence to carry on.”
U.S. racegoers embraced Dettori and enjoy his flying dismounts in the winner’s circle. A people pleaser who loves camera time and playing to the crowd, he put on a masterful show at Santa Anita on April 6. After winning six consecutive races, he lost the next one by a neck.
“I adore this place,” Dettori said, “and to win six races on Santa Anita Derby day is beyond my wildest dreams. Is this really happening?”
Well, it happened before, at Ascot on Sept. 28, 1996, when Dettori swept a seven-race card, immortalized as “The Magnificent Seven.” The 312-year-old racecourse commemorated the unbreakable record in October 2023 by erecting a statue of him on horseback. Queen Camilla did the unveiling.
American horseplayers have come to expect Dettori’s strategic and tactical brilliance that’s been a constant since the early Nineties. Although he went 0-for-6 in Breeders’ Cup races, his ride that Saturday in the Grade 3 Goldikova Stakes was a thing of beauty, especially to those who bet on 5-1 shot Raqiya. In what looked like a paceless race, Dettori immediately sent the English shipper to the lead and never gave it up. He set slow fractions in a 1½-length score, a masterpiece of “waiting in front.”
“No one pestered me,” Dettori said. “I was able to slow down, and the race was over.”
He also excels at stalking the pace while saving ground or coming wide from far back. Whatever the situation demands, the right move is in Frankie’s repertoire.
“He’s just a phenomenon,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “He’s world-class and rides every race the same, a Grade 1 or a claimer. Sometimes he just wills them in.”
One of Dettori’s bucket-list items is winning the Kentucky Derby (G1), and on his first try this year he finished 16th on 47-1 shot Society Man. He wants to join Steve Cauthen as the only riders to sweep the Epsom Derby and the Louisville classic. With Baffert’s three-year suspension lifted by Churchill Downs, Dettori is hopeful that the six-time Derby winner can provide him with a quality mount for the Triple Crown.
“It’s a new challenge for me,” Dettori said of his American adventure. “It makes me feel younger. I have nothing to prove. I’ve achieved everything. I’m doing it because I love it.”