Frankie Dettori

Lanfranco "Frankie" Dettori, MBE (born 15 December 1970) is an Italian horse racing jockey based in the United Kingdom. Dettori has been Champion Jockey on three occasions and has ridden the winners of more than 500 Group races. This includes twenty winners of the English classics. His most celebrated achievement was riding all seven winners on British Champions' Day at Ascot in 1996. He is the son of the Sardinian jockey Gianfranco Dettori, who was a prolific winner in Italy. He has been described by Lester Piggott as the best jockey currently riding.
Since the end of 2012, Dettori has been operating as a freelance, having split with Godolphin Racing, for whom he was stable jockey and had most of his big race victories.
On 5 December 2012, he was suspended from riding for six months after being found guilty of taking a prohibited substance, believed to be cocaine. During this absence, he took part in the 11th series of the UK reality TV show "Celebrity Big Brother", finishing seventh on Day 21.
Career.
Born in Milan, Italy, Dettori's first experience with horses was at the age of twelve, and his father bought him a Palomino pony. This had some impact on him, as he rode the horse often. When he was 13 Dettori left school to become a stable boy and apprentice jockey. The following year he went to Great Britain where he apprenticed with trainer Luca Cumani at Newmarket in 1985 and became a stable jockey soon after.
In 1990, Dettori became the first teenager since Lester Piggott to ride 100 winners in one season. His first win came at the age of 16 in Turin in November 1986, while his first victory in Britain was the following June. Further success followed, with numerous winners in Group 1 races. On 28 September 1996 he achieved the feat of winning all seven races on a single day at Ascot Racecourse.
In a 2010 interview with the BBC's Newsnight, he admitted that he used to take diuretic drugs to keep his weight down. Dettori said he had used a wide range of substances before the Jockey Club banned them in June 1998 after a spate of positive drug tests revealed how prevalent their use was becoming: "I took Lasix, pee pills, diuretics, laxatives; all sorts".
On 1 June 2000, Dettori was injured when the Piper Seneca on which he was traveling crashed near Newmarket. A police spokesman commented "It would certainly seem to be a miracle that anyone got out of the crash alive". On 29 December of the same year he received an honorary MBE.
Dettori was the retained jockey for the Godolphin racing stables, but it was announced in September 2012, that the retainer would not be renewed in 2013. He is well known for his distinctive "flying dismounts".
He quit his position as a team captain on the BBC quiz "A Question of Sport" in 2003, when he was apparently stung by a question from a participant as to when he retired from riding. Since that time he has completely rededicated himself to riding. He was rewarded for his newfound dedication by becoming the British Champion Jockey in 2004.
The Epsom Derby was the only British Classic Race Dettori had not won in his career, until his fifteenth attempt on 2 June 2007 on the Peter Chapple-Hyam trained Authorized. The following day he won the Prix du Jockey Club on Lawman, notching up a derby double.
In 2007, Dettori became the face of "Jockey" yoghurt, sold across Europe, but especially popular in France. The product initially courted controversyfor its sweet flavour, but Dettori's advertising campaign – "Frankie know whatta you a-like!" – has seen sales rise slightly.
In November 2012, he faced an inquiry following a failed drugs test while riding in France in September, and on 5 December 2012, Dettori was suspended from riding for six months after being found guilty of taking a prohibited substance believed to be cocaine. In a statement, his lawyer said he "also accepts that he has let down the sport he loves and all those associated with it, as well as the wider public".
In January 2013, Dettori was the fifth to be evicted on the eleventh series of the British reality show, "Celebrity Big Brother".
After serving his six-month ban, Dettori made his racing comeback at Epsom on the 31 May 2013. A week later, he won his first race riding Asian Trader at Sandown.
From June 2013 to July 2018, Dettori was the retained rider in Britain for Sheikh Joaan Al Thani's Al Shaqab Racing.
By the end of the 2017 season, he had ridden more than 3,000 winners in Great Britain, over 750 more than the next currently active jockey.
Personal life.
Dettori has stated "I am (1.63 m) and weigh (61 kg) (135 lbs) but I have to sometimes go down to (54 kg) (118 lbs)."
Like many other jockeys and trainers, Dettori lives in Stetchworth near Newmarket, Suffolk. He is married to Catherine and they have five children: Leo, Ella, Mia, Tallula and Rocco.
An ardent Anglophile, he thrives on English culture and is an avid Arsenal supporter. He has a line of frozen Italian food and in 2004 he opened a restaurant, "Frankie's Italian Bar and Grill" in Putney, London, with renowned chef Marco Pierre White. They subsequently opened a further three restaurants in London (in Knightsbridge, Chiswick and Selfridges) and one in Dubai (opened in 2007).
In 2000, Dettori and Ray Cochrane were aboard a Piper Seneca plane which crashed on take off at Newmarket on its way to Goodwood in Sussex, killing pilot Patrick Mackey. Dettori escaped with a fractured right ankle and an injured thumb, and spent some weeks in Addenbrooke's Hospital.
Thieves stole many of Dettori's medals from his home on the evening of 25 August 2006. Items missing include three Gold Cups awarded in Japan and his MBE.
Major wins.
 Great Britain
 Bahrain 
 France
 Qatar 
 United Arab Emirates 
 Germany
 Macau
 Hong Kong
 Trinidad and Tobago
 Slovakia
 South Africa
 Ireland
 Abu Dhabi
 Italy
 Switzerland
 Canada
 Australia
 United Arab Emirates
 Turkey
 United States
 Mauritius
 Japan
 Singapore
 Saudi Arabia 