Born in Milan, Italy on December 15, 1970, Lanfranco ‘Frankie’ Dettori is the son of 13-time Italian champion jockey Gianfranco Dettori. Dettori Jnr. rode his first winner, Rif, at Turin, Italy on November 16, 1986 and his last, Bet You Can, at Gavea, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on February 1, 2026. Following the latter, he said, “Racing has been my life. I began riding in Italy as a 15-year-old boy nearly 40 years ago, and this sport has given me everything.”
In Britain, Dettori became apprenticed to compatriot Luca Cumani in Newmarket in 1987 and rode his first winner for the yard, Lizzy Hare, in a handicap at Goodwood on June 9, 1987. Two seasons later, he rode 75 winners – riding out his claim on Versailles Road, trained by Susan Piggott, in handicap at Beverley on July 18, 1989 – en route to becoming champion apprentice. The following season, in which became the first teenager since Lester Piggott to ride over 100 winners in a season, he also recorded his first Group 1 win on Markofdistinction, trained by Cumani, in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot on September 29, 1990.
In September 1993, Dettori signed a retainer with Goldolphin, under the auspices of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and so began a profitable association, during which he would become champion jockey three times, in 1994, with a career-best 233 winners, 1995 and 2004. Of all his achievements on British soil, Dettori will probably always be best remembered for his so-called ‘Magnificent Seven’ at Ascot on September 28, 1996. At the British Festival of Racing, he rode all seven winners on the card, which, even at starting price, amounted to cumulative odds of 25,095/1 and cost the bookmakers tens of millions of pounds. At the end of his career, Dettori had ridden 3,336 winners on British soil.