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<\/p>\nFABULOUS Frankie Dettori, the world\u2019s best loved jockey, rides into the sunset at Ascot tomorrow.<\/p>\n
When the 52-year-old Italian partners King of Steel in the Champion Stakes race, it will be his final ride in Great Britain before relocating to California.<\/p>\n
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As The Sun\u2019s Punters Pal, I spent more than a quarter of a century following Frankie\u2019s exploits on and off the track.<\/p>\n
I drove thousands of miles to witness a fairy tale life no Hollywood scriptwriter could ever invent.<\/p>\n
All year we were led to believe that the 5ft 4in tall super showman would be retiring from the Sport of Kings and taking life easy.<\/p>\n
But now Frankie tells us that he is off to the USA instead, to race for "three months, or it could be three years".<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t surprise me in the least.<\/p>\n
Lanfranco Dettori was born in Milan on December 15, 1970 under the Sagittarian star sign.<\/p>\n
Their characteristics are an ability to stumble and fall but always to get up and try again.<\/p>\n
You can forgive them for almost anything because they will set your heart free with a very great gift \u2013 an honest love.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s Dettori to a tee.<\/p>\n Another famous Sagittarian was Frank Sinatra, who was noted for his many comebacks.<\/p>\n So don\u2019t bet against this Frankie returning for 2024 Royal Ascot \u2013 although he said this week that he won\u2019t be back because he has achieved everything in Britain.<\/p>\n How fitting that Ascot is the venue for Frankie\u2019s final farewell to the UK.<\/p>\n I was there on that unforgettable day in September 1996 when Dettori went through the complete card for his Magnificent Seven winners at accumulator odds of a bookie-bashing 25,095-1.<\/p>\n The bookmakers were hit for an estimated \u00a350million by his seven-time sting.<\/p>\n But beneath Frankie\u2019s showman\u2019s personality, he is actually quite sentimental.<\/p>\n When Fujiyama Crest, the horse he rode in that famous seventh race at Ascot in 1996, retired from racing, Frankie bought him and kept him in his own paddock.<\/p>\n Cold statistics show that over 35 years Dettori has ridden more than 3,500 winners, including 287 Group 1 races and 27 British Classics, and has been champion jockey three times.<\/p>\n But even more important, he has left in his trail so many glorious memories.<\/p>\n He says: \u201cI\u2019ve had such a marvellous year winning the 2,000 Guineas and the Oaks and if I totally retired I could never live with myself again. <\/p>\n "California\u2019s winter weather is great and there is little travelling to the tracks.\u201d<\/p>\n His father Gianfranco was 13 times Italian jockey and his mother Mara was a circus performer. He has his loyal wife Catherine and five children.<\/p>\n He once\u00a0told me: \u201cWhen I grew up in Milan, my big ambition was simply to become a petrol pump attendant.\u201d<\/p>\n But with career earnings of over \u00a3150million, he was able to own a string of gleaming Ferrari\u2019s.<\/p>\n When he arrived at Newmarket in 1985 as a 14-year-old stable lad, not speaking a word of English, he was so home sick that he cried himself to sleep every night.<\/p>\n Recently he rode his 500th<\/sup>\u00a0winner at Newmarket and said: \u201cIt\u2019s great to end like this. It\u2019s been my home.\u201d<\/p>\n But recently he rented out his sprawling Newmarket home for \u00a315,000 a month and moved to London.<\/p>\n While\u00a0he will always be remembered for his trademark flying dismounts after big race wins, his other trait is a habit of kissing people in his unbridled enthusiasm.<\/p>\n One day, after I had written a feature on him, I was at Lingfield when he spotted me and planted a kiss on my cheek.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cAh, Punter\u2019s Pal, I loved that bit in today\u2019s Sun.\u201d<\/p>\n A much more embarrassing moment came after he won the 2015 Arc de Triomphe on Golden Horn.<\/p>\n Longchamp\u2019s press interview room was absolutely packed. He saw me and charged over with another smacking kiss. French journalists couldn\u2019t believe their eyes.<\/p>\n But I have been in very good company.<\/p>\n After he received the prize for winning this year\u2019s Ascot Gold Cup from the newly-crowned King and Queen, he could not resist giving Camilla a peck on the cheek.\u00a0<\/p>\n The golden rule of never touching royalty went straight out of the window \u2013 nobody but Frankie could get away with it.<\/p>\n When he won the 2019 St Leger on Conduit, he asked trainer Sir Michael Stoute, \u201cShall we hug?\u201d<\/p>\n Totally embarrassed, Stoute said: \u201cNot in public. I\u2019m not an Italian.\u201d<\/p>\n But that did not stop him planting yet another smacker.<\/p>\n When Frankie became champion jockey, The Sun created a special cup to mark the occasion.<\/p>\n Later he delighted in telling me: \u201cThieves have raided my house and stolen a lot of silverware but amazingly they left your cup!\u201d<\/p>\n He has a typical Latin temperament. When all is going well, he is on cloud nine. When he is dejected, he is plunged into terrible despair, and I have seen both sides of his character.<\/p>\n Once we had arranged an interview at Nottingham where he would talk about a moment of stupidity in his life.<\/p>\n I knew he had finished his rides and waited patiently, only to discover that he\u2019d escaped my awkward questions by climbing out of a backroom window.<\/p>\n He also has a short fuse.<\/p>\n Golfing in Dubai he was bored with a fellow player taking ages to take his tee shorts. Dettori finally yelled: \u201cJust hit it. We\u2019ll f*****g find it!\u201d<\/p>\n In April 2003, after watching his beloved Arsenal, he was arrested for possession of cocaine. He escaped with a police warning.<\/p>\n In September 2012 he failed a drugs test in France and was given a six-month ban.<\/p>\n He admitted: \u201cI was dejected and acted in a moment of madness. I\u2019ve only have myself to blame. In a way it did me a favour as I could not move to Hong Kong.\u201d<\/p>\n His glorious spell as Sheikh Mohammed\u2019s jockey in Godolphin\u2019s blue silks ended in tears in 2012.<\/p>\n But recently he has teamed up successfully with trainer John Gosden, who has twice rescued his career.<\/p>\n His darkest day came in June 2000, when he shared a lift with fellow jockey Ray Cochrane in a small private plane. Minutes after take-off at Newmarket bound for Goodwood, the plane crashed and burst into flames.<\/p>\n Cochrane bravely pulled Dettori from the wreckage, but the pilot Patrick Mackey was killed.<\/p>\n Dettori says: \u201cI knew we were going to crash. All I could think was that I would never see my wife Catherine and son Leo ever again. It was a miracle Ray and I escaped with our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n It was many was years later before Dettori ever flew again in small aeroplanes.<\/p>\n \u00a0At least now Dettori, the world\u2019s highest paid weight-watcher, will be free to enjoy his favourite pastime \u2013 eating.<\/p>\n He laughs: \u201cI am looking forward to a few decent meals. In Italy, more than anywhere else in the world, we live to eat rather than eat to live.\u201d<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Arsenal-transfer-news-12-1.jpg\"){kind=spacer}
<\/picture>SAD LOSS <\/span><\/p>\nOwner says ‘heartbroken doesn’t come close’ after horse dies in voided race<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/TB-COMBO_FIVER_FRI.jpg\")
<\/picture>FIVER FLUTTER <\/span><\/p>\nThis 14-1 shot headlines three big Newcastle picks to bash the bookies<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/TB-COMBO_TEMPLEGATE-TIPS-FRIDAY.jpg\")
<\/picture>TEMPLEGATE’S TIPS <\/span><\/p>\nMy 3-1 NAP has to be backed for trainer in flying form at Newcastle<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/newspress-collage-24453909-1697713326075.jpg\")
<\/picture>BAID DAY <\/span><\/p>\nHot-headed owner removes his horses from Andrew Balding claiming he ‘isn’t lucky’<\/h3>\n
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8<\/span>Humble aspirations<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/jockey-frankie-dettori-sun-reporter-3488698.jpg\")
<\/p>\nEmbarrassing moments<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/frankie-dettori-riding-courage-mon-826857927.jpg\")
<\/p>\nLatin temperament<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/claude-duvall-frankie-dettori-lingfield-3396523.jpg\")
<\/p>\nDarkest day<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nRead More on The Sun<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/be9fa7cd-0f68-4326-9e9a-d8af2cc29144.jpg\")
<\/picture>![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/2021-british-logistics-companies-taking-853608387.jpg\")
<\/picture>![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/26-08-2023-frankie-dettori-853632549.jpg\")