- Personal Appearances
Topics:
- Sport
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Frankie Dettori
Lanfranco "Frankie" Dettori, MBE is a thoroughbred race horse jockey and celebrity. He is the son of Sardinian jockey Gianfranco Dettori, himself having been a prolific winner in Italy.
In the Beginning
Dettori's father bought him a palomino pony when he was eight and he used to practise on it for half an hour every night. When he was 13, Frankie 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 soon became a stable jockey.
100 Winners in One Season
In 1990 Frankie 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 in Britain was the following June. Further success followed, with numerous winners in Group 1 races. On September 28, 1996 he achieved the feat of winning all seven races on a single day at Ascot Racecourse.
In 2000 Dettori received an honorary MBE.
Dettori quit his position as a team captain on the BBC quiz A Question Of Sport in 2003.
