Dettori confirms retirement as champion jockey ends epic racing career

Frankie Dettori has announced he will be retiring from horse racing at the age of 52. The champion jockey, who won the Gold Cup eight times and was Britain’s flat racing champion jockey on three occasions across his glittering career, will bow out once the 2023 Flat season has been concluded after confirming his intention to step off the saddle for good next year.

The Milan-born jockey started his horse racing journey in his native Italy after winning his first race as a stable jockey in 1986. He gained notoriety after winning all seven races at Ascot back in 1996 after drawing comparisons to the legendary Lester Piggott.

That would set him up for an extraordinary, long-spanning career in racing whereby he won the Ascot Gold Cup on eight occasions, including a hat-trick of successive wins on board with Stradivarius between 2018 and 2020.

He also won the King George and Queen Elizabeth stakes at Ascot on seven occasions, riding Enable to victory in 2017, 2019 and 2020 to write his name in the history books. Dettori will step away from racing once the flat season for 2023 has finished as one of the greatest jockeys the sport has known.

When asked what his plans were for the forthcoming year, Dettori revealed he would be planning to leave competitive horse racing behind and admitted he had been considering the change “for a while”.

“Next year, 2023, will be my final competitive year as a jockey,” Dettori said in an interview with ITV Sport.

“It’s something that I’ve been thinking about for a while and what an appropriate day for the racing world that I tell you it’s going to be my finale this year.”

Dettori laid out his plans for his final season as a flat racing jockey, spending time for events in the USA, Dubai and Saudi Arabia before heading back for the summer showpiece races at Ascot and Newmarket.

“The plan is I’m riding Boxing Day, I’m trying to spend about 10 weeks in California and then I should make my way back, Dubai and Saudi between, before finishing the season in Newmarket,” he added.

“I’ll be riding right through, obviously it will be my last derby, my last Royal Ascot, and then it could be champions day at Newmarket. Then I will have my final farewell as a professional rider in California in the Breeders’ Cup.”

Dettori has ridden winners of more than 500 Group races in over 35 years as a jockey and the last decade operating as freelance. He spent the majority of his career with Godolphin before parting ways after serving a six-month ban in 2012.