Five Frankie Dettori magic moments as he approaches 3000 British winners
David Metcalf | August 5, 2016
Five Frankie Dettori magic moments
Superstar jockey Frankie Dettori is rapidly closing in on 3000 British wins and will captain Team Europe in the 2016 Shergar Cup at Ascot.
The popular Italian-born rider is just three short of the milestone heading into the action the day before the meeting, having achieved his 2997th on Tadkhirah at Sandown last night.
Dettori arrived from his homeland to join Luca Cumani’s Newmarket yard as an apprentice in July 1985. His first success came on Rif at Turin, Italy, on November 16th 1986, and he rode his first British winner on Lizzy Hare at Goodwood on June 9th 1987.
He passed 100 winners for the first time in 1990 when recording 141 successes and created history when riding all seven winners on the Saturday at the Ascot Festival in September 1996.
Dettori’s best total of British winners of 233 came in 1994. and he has enjoyed over more than 100 such winners in a season 14 times.
He has ridden over 100 winners at Group One level, and enjoyed two successes in the Investec Derby courtesy of Authorised (2007) and Golden Horn (2015). Here’s a look at five Frankie Dettori magic moments in the saddle:
Authorized
Authorized provided Dettori with his first Investec Derby winner in 2007. It was his 15th attempt at trying to capture the Classic contest and the Peter Chapple-Hyam trained colt romped to an easy success.
Dubai Millenium
Dubai Millennium is one of the best ridden by Dettori and stormed to a six-length victory the Dubai World Cup in 2010. The colt oozed class and carried the colours of Goldophin, Dettori’s employers at the time, to victory in the world’s richest race.
Fujayama Crest
Dettori rode all seven winners on an extraordinary afternoon at Ascot in 1996 and Fujiyama Crest was the last leg of the “Magnificent Seven”. The four-year-old had lost his five previous starts that season, but was backed into 2-1 favouritism and scrambled home by a neck under a power packed ride from Dettori.
Colour Vision
Colour Vision had tremendous guts and was given a great tactical ride by Dettori to land a thrilling Ascot Gold Cup in 2012 when holding off the late challenge of Opinion Poll. The gelding kept finding for Dettori’s urgings to prevail by a fast diminishing 1/2 a length.
Rewilding
Rewilding came from miles off the pace under Dettori to get up close home an beat Aussie super horse So You Think in the 2011 running of the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot. Dettori judged the pace to perfection and it was a master class in race riding.
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