Frankie Dettori still feels he has a lot to give in the saddle and has delayed retirement. Photo: Andrew Crowley for Telegraph
Frankie Dettori is excited. Although there are two chairs reserved for this interview in his Park Lane hotel room, he initially paces the room like a man with unexpected news to break. “I’m not ready to retire,” he says finally. “You are the first person I have told officially. I still have it in me, I want to continue. I just feel like I still have something to give.”
This is, to put it mildly, like a shake-up. The very premise of this conversation must be his farewell to Ascot next Saturday, which he has been considering for several months to be his last ride as a jockey. And now, at 52 years old, he still stays in the saddle? This must be the longest farewell tour since Frank Sinatra.
He knows what it might look like, that there will be those who will accuse him of taking advantage of the moment. But the truth is that Dettori, now in his sixth decade, struck one of his richest veins of form this year when his Ascot Gold Cup triumph in June prompted him to kiss the Queen — rather horrified in return — on the cheek. Being a protocol-breaking actor, he struggles to quench his thirst for another curtain call. And now, after 36 years of living in Newmarket, the birthplace of horse racing, he and his wife Catherine are packing up for life in Los Angeles.
“I thought, ‘Why not? I’m not going to offend anyone if I stay in America a little longer,” he reflects. “This presented me with a new challenge. The children grew up and all left home. Katherine no longer needs to run the school. We can lock ourselves up and leave.”
California: It seems like the right place for Dettori, who defies the challenges of his craft to create the aura of a Hollywood actor. Even the setting of this meeting at the luxurious Grosvenor House Suites hotel reflects his love of glamor. His penthouse, almost the size of San Marino, has a grand piano in the foyer. When he appears in the living room, dressed head to toe in black, like a miniature Johnny Cash, he radiates a glow of glory.
Black is considered attractive at any age and Dettori wears it well. He looks incredibly young for a jockey of his age, his soft features a stark contrast to the famously craggy Lester Piggott, known as Old Stoneface. “Lester was 49 when he first retired, but he looked 120,” he laughs. “You see, all this smoking. If I were washed away, I wouldn't even think about continuing. You need your body to obey your mind.»
Dettori took a while to make a decision, and now we are looking forward to it . the next chapter of his life in the USA. Photo: Andrew Crowley for Telegraph
In a curious way, Piggott still offers a model of what Dettori aspires to. Two weeks after returning to racing at the age of 54, Old Stoneface won the 1990 Breeders' Cup at the Royal Academy — a victory that, despite all his nine Derbies, Piggott would later describe as his most satisfying feat. “Don’t forget, Leicester had five years off,” Dettori grins. «I'm going straight.»
He plans to travel to the US full-time, starting with the traditional opening day at Santa Anita on Boxing Day. How long will this final encore last? “It could be three months, it could be three years. I need to get my head in order, get this out of my head before I start thinking about anything else.”
It's an intriguing window into Dettori's psyche. Hyperactive, uncontrollable, he discovers that the excitement of sports is an addiction that he cannot break. He's tried to replicate that adrenaline rush elsewhere, from appearing on Big Brother to opening his own restaurant chain with Marco Pierre White, but nothing compares to the excitement of competition winners.
“The success I've had lately, has added fuel to the fire,” he explains. “It’s the same if you’re a footballer and you still score goals. After that I was planning a career in television, but that can wait.”
Sports figures who create a magnificent sunset often find themselves consumed by thoughts of the darkness beyond. Such was the experience of Roger Federer, who said goodbye forever to last year's Laver Cup in London, only to dissolve into sobs as a video montage of his greatest matches began playing. “Yeah, it would be so hard to just stop,” he agrees. “That’s why it’s easier for me to prepare for next weekend at Ascot. Now I know that there is a little life after this.»
Dettori's victory on Courage Mon Ami in this year's Ascot Gold Cup is one of several big victories that convinced him to stay in the saddle. Photo: Reuters/Andrew Boyers
Champions Day at Ascot will still be Dettori's official farewell to England. And this, despite his desire to pursue the American Dream, is a source of some pain. “Of course I’ll cry,” he admits. “I am quite an emotional person and have spent more years of my life in this country than in Italy.”
He initially had doubts about England after his father Gianfranco sent him to learn his trade in Newmarket, only to be bullied by the grooms there. “Oh, I still have them,” he says, looking out over Hyde Park on a gloomy autumn evening. “Look how dark it is there. But I liked this place.”
Attachment to Queen Elizabeth II
His adopted country will miss him immensely. It's not just that Dettori is a folk hero with his inimitable flying dismounts, but that he has become part of the racing establishment. Little expresses this as well as his affection for Elizabeth II. “I knew her for 30 years,” he says. “I won 50 races for her. If I was ever at an event, she would definitely talk to me. For her it was a kind of escape. She could do what she loved.”
Dettori's stories about the late sovereign are varied. But there is one particular incident that he can hardly resist telling in full. Have you heard the story about how he visited the Queen to find the missing sausage dog? Well, then let Frankie begin…
“It was Sunday evening,” he recalls. “I had just won a big race at Newmarket so I had a huge party. There were rumors that there must have been 300 people there. I was on the deck and DJing. We have a wonderful French window into the garden, so I let everyone out. People were drinking in the street, dogs were running. In the end we all crashed and burned. I woke up and the place was destroyed, bottles everywhere. And since we were all worn out, we forgot to close the doors.
“My dachshund was running around the field chasing rabbits. And apparently she did it again. Luckily, it had a tag with our phone number on it, and someone picked it up on the street. This person was Caroline Warren, the wife of the royal racing manager John, who lived in a nearby village. She left a message on my answering machine saying she had our dog. “Caroline, this is Frankie, I’m really embarrassed,” I told her. – When can we pick her up? “We have a problem,” she said. “We're going to Sandringham to pick up the queen. She will stay with us tonight. Why don't you come at seven to say hello?»
Dettori knew Queen Elizabeth II for 30 years, and the couple got along well and shared many jokes. Photo: Action Images via Reuters/John Sibley
“My wife had a hangover. She was cleaning the ponies. I opened the kitchen window and shouted, “Honey, I found the dog.” “Who has it?” she asked. “Queen,” I said. “To hell,” she replied. «No I am not joking. I'll pick him up tonight.» I told my daughter, who was only 10 years old at the time, “Come on, Ella, put on your little dress. We're going to bring the dog.» And sure enough, we arrived at the Warrens, and the Queen was sitting there with a gin and tonic.”
Dettori now makes an energetic move, jumping out of his chair for added dramatic effect. “Your Majesty, my daughter Ella,” I announced. Ella curtsied and I poured myself a G&T. The Queen talked with Ella for half an hour. “Do you ride ponies?” What's your pony's name? I never said a word. Only when dinner was almost ready was the dog released. He ran towards me across a beautiful Persian carpet. Unfortunately, she was so happy that she covered the entire carpet. Well, really, a small trickle. But John said we had to leave. He kicked me out. At least the queen laughed.”
This wasn't the only time Dettori was challenged by her down-to-earth sense of humor or straightforwardness. When she presented him with the King George Trophy at Ascot in 2004, he proudly told her: «This is my fourth time.» She deadpanned: “Well, Lester Piggott won seven.” Following Queen Elizabeth's death last year, Dettori described feeling as if part of his soul was gone. Today, 13 months later, the feeling of shock remains. “I thought she was immortal.”
“My dad is right on point”
Growing up in Milan, Lanfranco Dettori never imagined that he would come into contact with the queen, much less that his dog would one day embarrass himself in her company. His childhood in Milan was complicated by his parents' divorce, and his interest in horses was not awakened until his father bought him a palomino pony named Silvia. Gianfranco, a 13-time Italian champion jockey, was not easy to please. For years, Frankie says, he spoke disparagingly to his son, convinced that Frankie lacked the natural horsemanship to make him a worthy heir.
He had long since given up on the idea. But the dynamics of Padre e figlio can still, as Dettori Jr. attests, be turbulent. “Dad came to Paris a couple of weeks ago to see me finish second,” he says. “He immediately said, ‘You’ve gone too far. This is his nature.»
I responded to his sister Sandra's comment that he always needed his father's harsh judgment for motivation. . «Probably. My sister looks at it a certain way. I look at it more professionally. If I asked my friends what they thought, they would dress nicer. My dad is right on point. If he thinks I screwed up, he'll tell me «.
«Now we need you, show us how good you are.»
At times, Dettori can be his own harshest critic. When his wife designed the rooms of their Suffolk home, she called one of them the “sulk room.” «It's a huge house, and I thought, 'Great, I'll have my own room.'» When Katherine was making keys and locks for each door, she came up with a «sulking room,» because when I lose, I lock myself in there. I just I want to be alone.”
They make a charming couple, Frankie and Catherine. He has a volcanic Latin temperament, but she has shown the calm necessary to balance the chaos of his racing ambitions and raising five children. They were shaped by very different backgrounds: one was the son of an equestrian and circus performer who finished his education early, the other was the daughter of a professor who followed her father to Cambridge. If Katherine was, as she called herself, a “blank canvas,” then her husband could be a seething bundle of complications. But their marriage, from their first date when Frankie was riding a moped around Newmarket, became the basis of his success.
Nothing resonated with him more than what Katherine said at the height of his battle with bulimia and subsequent cocaine ban in 2012: “Now that we need you, show us how good you are.” These words struck him like a lightning strike. They challenged both his pride and his dedication, and he responded in a way only he knew how, purging his anger at being stripped of his position as No. 1 rider at Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin Stables to forge a hugely rewarding partnership with coach John Gosden.
When asked who helped him through his darkest times, Dettori answers without hesitation: “My wife. We all have our own resilience in one way or another. When you are backed into a corner, you have to fight to get out of it. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone, but this is exactly what happened to me. Ekaterina knew how to reach me, she knew exactly what to say at the right moment. If it had been someone else, I probably wouldn’t have listened.”
Dettori is quick to admit that his wife Catherine has played a huge role in his success. Photo: Getty Images/Julian Herbert
In a sporting life like Dettori's there are sacrifices. But he doesn't look like he would have family balance if Katherine was a stay-at-home mom while he built his global fame and fortune some other way. “One regret is that I didn’t teach my children Italian,” he says. “Despite this, the few I have seen have always been special. We had winters in Dubai, we skied, went on safaris, I took them all over the world. We're all guilty of saying we should have spent more time with our children. But you can’t be a successful athlete and a father from nine to five.”
Dettori claims he reassessed his priorities after nearly dying in a plane crash 23 years ago. He and fellow jockey Ray Cochrane were traveling on a Piper Seneca plane that was destroyed on takeoff at Newmarket. But while his friend pulled him from the smoldering wreckage, pilot Patrick McKee could not be saved. Once Dettori recovered from a broken ankle and cuts to his face, he changed his lifestyle, replacing countless hours in the weight room with time in the studio working on A Question of Sports.
What he gained in perspective, he lost in competitive advantage. It's a shift he looks back on with some sadness. “After the accident, I took my foot off the pedal because I became a different person,” he says. “Yes, I had more time for myself, more time with my wife. I started enjoying life a little more. But when I look at my statistics, I am not satisfied. I could have done a lot better.”
How many more of these famous, winning dismounts will the racing world see? has Dettori now decided to retire? Photo: Reuters/Andrew Boyers
These remarks reflect the essential dichotomy of Dettori, who can appear peaceful one moment and in turmoil the next. However, he is adamant that the excesses of the past have been moderated. Take his eating habits: If he suffered from bulimia for 10 years, trying to gain weight with laxatives and diuretics, he now advises moderation. “A lot of us jockeys have weight problems, just like supermodels. If you saw me eat a hamburger, you'd still be shocked 1000 to 1. Even if my kids eat it, I won't even try it. I train my mind not to do this. A stable diet, healthy eating, exercise — that's what works.”
His eccentricity also decreased. “As an Italian, I had a million superstitions,” he recalls. “Everyone gave me talismans that I wore around my neck. Antlers, leaves, whatever. At one point I could barely raise my head. But I grew out of it as I got older. You will succeed if you work hard.”
All in all, Dettori appears ready to embark on his next midlife adventure across the Atlantic. He may not have quenched the thirst of the winners, but he has quelled the party animal of his youth. In the most desperate cases, he spent all his hours in Hong Kong and dominated Dubai. Now the thought of an early night in the Los Angeles suburbs takes on a strange appeal. “Ten years ago I still wanted to go out every night,” he says. “Now, to be honest, if I have to go to bed at 9.30 there, I won’t mind.”
It took almost 40 years, but finally, against all odds, the incorrigible motor racing maverick relented. .
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