It’s the first of our monthly blog posts with our Global Racing Ambassador Frankie Dettori, we sat down with him to discuss the upcoming Derby meeting at Epsom, his reaction to the recently launched Race for the Crown series and the latest news from the world of horse racing.
Read on to see what the world greatest jockey had to say as you place your bets on the upcoming horse racing events here on Stake Sportsbook.
Where have you been based so far during your time in the USA?
I was in California, then I went to Florida for a bit in Gulfstream and then I moved to Kentucky. I've been here now for almost two months. And then I am going to go to Saratoga for the Belmont weekend.
I’m going to go and see my children back in the UK and make an appearance at Ascot, but I'm not riding! After that I’ll coming back here where I'll do two months in Saratoga.
It was nice last year and I started a bit of business over there. After that, I suspect I'll come back to Kentucky for Keeneland month. And then there's the Breeders’ Cup in Del Mar again.
Where would you call home? Do you have a permanent base, or are you just travelling the world?
I don't really have a permanent base. I'm enjoying the travelling. I'm just following the circuit, but I probably spend the most time in a single place in California in the winter.
How does the racing compare between the East and the West coast?
Well, it's more action here in the East, but obviously with more action it's harder to win here because all the big trainers and the big jockeys are here. On the West Coast, Santa Anita is one of my favourite tracks. You know, we don't have the numbers of horses there that they have in the East Coast, but you know, obviously Bob Baffert is a resident there; he's an amazing trainer and he's got big firepower.
Talking of firepower, the Derby is next week. It is a race that you have won twice. What do you make of this year’s renewal? It seems fairly open.
I've been following English racing and watching the trials this season. I try to keep in touch with English racing. After the race, it always looks straightforward, but before the Derby, every year, you can make a case for any number of horses running in it.
Delacroix is one of five Aidan O’Brien entries, and Ryan Moore is going for three Derbies in a row. Do you think Ryan will ride Delacroix?
Well, if I was Ryan, I would ride him because he's more rock solid. He’s guaranteed to stay and he seemed very straightforward to handle.
The Lion In Winter came from a long lay-off and was perhaps too fresh on his reappearance after the Dante. He looked a bit hot at the start and he's got to come back from that. Of course, Aidan is a genius at doing things like that, bringing the horses back from bad runs, like with City Of Troy, for example, last year. But don't forget you still have to take the horse all the way around the mile and a half. The atmosphere is not as crazy nowadays at Epsom as it used to be, there’s less noise without the big funfair, but it's still pretty challenging for any horse to go all the way around. And if he runs as fresh as he did in the Dante, I suspect that it's not going to finish like he did at York. So, Delacroix seems the more uncomplicated and guaranteed to stay to me.
Delacroix is the son of Dubawi, who's never sired a Derby winner and missed out himself. So does Delacroix seem a good bet to try and right that wrong?
Even Sadlers Wells’ progeny took a long time to win the Derby! I don’t know too much about Delacroix’s dam’s side, but Dubawi is a very versatile sire and has thrown horses for every distance, so I don’t think there’s any negative.
Aidan O’Brien has won the race 10 times, which is an incredible record. What marks him out?
It is unbelievable.
He’s an amazing trainer with an amazing operation and obviously Galileo made an amazing impact in the Derby picture. I think that helped. You can have the stock but you still have to train them. Year in and year out, he comes to Epsom and takes over.
This year is not all about Ballydoyle and Coolmore, because there are some real British contenders. You have got Ruling Court, Damysus, Nightwalker and Pride of Arras. Which of those do you sense has the best chance?
Pride Of Arras won in the style of a Derby winner in the Dante. The only thing that might muddle him is the size of the field. I suspect it will be a maximum field and he’s only run twice, so it won’t be easy. He’ll have to manage his way through the traffic. He does have a good cruising speed, though, and a good turn of foot. He’s the one which has impressed me the most in the Derby trials. It’s just the lack of experience which disadvantages him. It’s very hard to win this race on only your third start, so that’s the one thing which puts me off a bit.
Ruling Court is a serious horse. What he showed in the Guineas was very impressive, but it's that massive question mark, will he get a mile and a half? We know that a mile and quarter is within his reach because he hit the line very strongly at Newmarket, but this is another two furlongs. He's an amazing, talented horse, but he's got a massive question mark to me.
Damysus looks a very solid horse, but to me Pride Of Arras was much better than him in the Dante and we expect him to improve a bit here, so the gap is looking a bit too far to bridge to me.
Pride Of Arras would be the one I’d put my fiver on.
It’s a very exciting race and it is wide open. We’ve already made a case for a good number of them, and it’s very interesting.
What is it like riding for John Gosden? Is there a lot of pressure because of who he is and the yard’s status?
I had this chemistry with John that I don't think I've had with any other trainers. I don't know if he trained the horses to suit my riding, or if I rode the horses to suit his training or vice versa, but we were always on the same page. I mean, we’ve got nothing in common in real life. I go raving and he goes to the opera! He goes to the museums and I go to the fun fair.
But, when it comes to work, we are on the same page. John would look at my face and know exactly what the horse needed or what we had to do to make him better. He left it always to me and we discussed things, but we just had the chemistry. Just like with Sir Alex Ferguson and Man United and his players!
You took part in the documentary series, Race for the Crown. What sort of impact has that had for racing Stateside?
I think it's been amazing, actually. Straight after the thing came out, I got approached by the team of Shaquille O'Neal. He wanted to get involved because obviously Jason, the baseball player, was featured in it. It’s great that he has brought attention from other people to come to our sport. The documentary was amazing, the pictures were extraordinary and there is potential there to have some more shows and to open the sport visually in other aspects, either to grooms or owners or other people in the sport that obviously didn't feature in the first series.
It was only the tip of the iceberg we gave to show people. And I think there's a lot more there that we can give to the public.
Is Shaquille O'Neal investing in the sport? Does he want to seek your guidance?
I guess it is only early days but his team reached out to me and are interested in doing something. If there are people like him making those enquiries, then it has clearly had a good response from people.
Are you an F1 fan?
Yes - I watched Monaco last weekend and I am a keen F1 supporter. Believe it or not, I’ve even had my eyes on the Indy 500 last weekend. I didn't understand any of it, but it was interesting…! I am, of course, a Ferrari supporter. We haven’t done so great these last few years, but it’s great to have Lewis Hamilton, although we have given him a slow car at the moment! I hope that next year with the new engines we can catch up a bit more.
If they were going to make a film of your life, who would you like to play you?
Maybe Antonio Banderas. Because he's got dark hair…!
Talking about America, how are you enjoying life out there? And could you see other British jockeys making the move?
I'm really enjoying it because to me it's all new. It's given me a new challenge. It just really lit my fire a bit. I think America is a great opportunity for the young rider for many reasons. You learn the timing and the aerodynamics of a jockey on a horse. Also the prize money puts England to shame! You can make a good living here. I mean, if you think about it, in England, there are only a handful of jobs you can say are worth taking on in order to make a good living.
Australia goes under that bracket for a young jockey as well. Every weekend there is a race worth a million dollars. In England, we only have six races worth a million throughout the year. So it doesn't make any sense really.
What is the key difference between riding in America and Britain?
In England, we have completely unorthodox racecourses. Left-handed, right-handed, some don’t even have a straight ‘home straight’! They’re varied, whereas in America, they’re all an oval and they’re all very speed orientated. You’ve got to be fast out of the gates and the straights are short, so you don’t have much time to manoeuvre and position is crucial. Everything is much faster.
There is going to be a Global International Jockeys’ League and you have been named as one of the 12. It sounds quite an exciting proposition. Can you give us your insight?
I'll be honest, I've been hearing about this idea for the last 30 years, and it's never got off the ground! But this time it looks like we're getting close. The first idea was to do the league with horses, but you can’t move horses to 12 different countries. I think it’s a great idea to appeal to other people, not just racing people. It’ll be easy to follow if you have the same 12 jockeys going to these different countries and working on a points system. Racecourses are behind it, and we just have to figure out the logistics now. It’ll be a great thing for racing and, I know I’m one of the senior jockeys, but I think it’ll be a really great way to launch some of the younger ones too for the future. It’s all positive for racing, so I hope that we can finalise the dates and off we go!
When will you hear by?
Hopefully they'll finalise it by the end of the season and we can start in November next year, I hope. All the experts are working behind the scenes to try to make it work.
For almost 30 years, you have been the real superstar of racing. Who has the potential to carry the sport forward like you have done for so many years?
When I started, obviously it was Pat Eddery, Steve Cauthen and Willie Carson as the dominant people when I grew up. Pat came along and then I came along and now there’s Oisin Murphy and William Buick. There’s always going to be someone that people can relate to. I did my section of fame and now I can let somebody else take over. Like I said, it'll always be someone because racing is popular and will always be popular.
Which current British jockey excites you the most?
Well, I would say obviously Oisin Murphy, William Buick and James Doyle are already established, as is Ryan Moore. I would say the youngest one is Billy Loughnane. He's a charming guy. He listens. He's willing to learn. Horses run for him. For a young jockey with that little experience, he seems very mature already. He's quite tall, so he's going to work at his weight more than anybody else, but I think he's a natural talent. To me, out of the young guys, he's the most talented and has a bright future.
Royalty and Flat racing have gone together for many years. The King has now got a horse with Willie Mullins. What are your thoughts on that?
Willie Mullins' record at Ascot is amazing. So, the King is in good hands there. I'm sure that he will have something to cheer home over the five days of Ascot.
In Ireland we have seen Jessica Harrington focus more on the Flat and Joseph O'Brien is cutting back his jumpers because the attention and the money is in the Flat racing, is that right?
I'm not knocking jump racing, as jump racing is very popular! But you've seen it throughout the years, a lot of horses which have run at Cheltenham have done really well at Ascot, with trainers such as Mullins, Henderson and Gordon Elliott, and long may that continue.
We’ve got everything at Ascot; young horses, old horses, sprinting, long distance. You name it. Royal Ascot is our Olympics.
How will you feel being at the Royal Meeting and not riding?
Well, I did it last year and it was very exhausting! Just talking to everyone. Of course, I've got the devil and the angel on either shoulder saying ‘you should ride!’, ‘no, you shouldn't ride!’ and I'm not lying to you, I thought about it, but I left on such a good note.
I got such a great farewell from the English people. I don't think this is the time for me to make a comeback. So I will come because I love Royal Ascot. It's been a massive part of my life. It also gives me a chance to see my children and say hi to my friends. So yes, I'm looking forward to it.
I'm not going to lie to you, sometimes I have thought about it, but it's not going to happen this year. Never say never, but it's not going to happen this year.
And finally, you are a big Arsenal fan. This season, you were so near and yet so far again and there was disappointment, especially with Tottenham winning a trophy. Are you disappointed with what Arteta is doing?
I wasn't disappointed. I was disappointed more about the Champions League. I've got my French colleagues here in America, and they’re crazy about PSG and how they knocked us out of the tournament. I think Liverpool were by far the best team and they were in control by December.
I don’t need to preach to everybody saying we need a striker. Of course we need a striker, but finding one is the difficult part.
Who would you like to see wearing the number nine shirt at Arsenal next season?
This is very controversial…but Harry Kane!
It's exactly what we lack. An absolute number nine, and he's a machine. He's an ex-Tottenham player of course, but if it was possible, I would buy him.
