Frankie: The Autobiography of Frankie Dettori

Frankie: The Autobiography of Frankie Dettori
Frankie Dettori

Irresistible to the punters, champion jockey Frankie Dettori is a charismatic personality with an easy charm and immaculate dress sense that make him an instant favourite on the track and a household name off it. His autobiography has been fully updated to include Frankie’s record-breaking racing exploits in 2004.In his own words, Frankie Dettori charts his rise from stable lad to champion jockey, revealing the endless hours of hard work, the fun along the way, and his determination to succeed against the odds.Frankie relives his nine Classic winners in the UK and talks about his notable victories at the St Leger, The Breeder’s Cup Mile, the Arc de Triomphe, the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, and, memorably, his seven winners on the same card at Ascot in 1996. He also shares the secrets of his successful partnerships with trainers like Luca Cumani and John Gosden, and owners such as Sheikh Mohammed of the Goldolphin organisation.This is also a human interest story. Frankie talks openly about using drugs to keep his weight down, his celebrity role as team captain on ‘A Question of Sport’, his rich and varied lifestyle outside of racing, including his family and inner circle, and of the moment when he almost lost his life following a plane crash.Controversial, informative and hugely entertaining, Frankie Dettori’s life story will appeal to the millions of people who follow the sport as well as those intrigued to know more about one of the greatest talents that horse-racing has ever seen.

Frankie

The Autobiography of

FRANKIE DETTORI with JONATHAN POWELL

To my dad Gianfrancowho never doubted that I would make itas a jockey, even when I was not sure.A thousand thanks.

Table of Contents

Cover Page (#u41fd3fde-e503-5426-9ca6-ded892be3ea5)

Title Page (#u66f84d24-a855-56d1-84f3-790e999da40a)

Dedication (#u642983d3-d784-5bb1-b71d-083d95d131d9)

One: I Knew I Was Going to Die (#ud27cb6d1-bfbf-547e-9dde-aa7c7a62435d)

Two: Against the Odds (#udf8436b6-7876-5c06-8bba-ebc5ecbe250b)

Three: Lost in My Father’s Shadow (#ufd88c991-b358-548d-b11b-1fa275368331)

Four: Growing Up Fast (#u3e87c397-b6d2-5f96-820d-10767fe3f6e3)

Five: I Used to Cry Myself to Sleep (#uf9ade385-eeb4-57be-a1e0-b6ab5fd8123d)

Six: Riding Like an Italian (#ubfb84bc3-4c56-5888-be0a-cfe5f2df4983)

Seven: Priceless Lessons in California (#u9cde44bf-2dd4-5e50-8d28-82a03b168e63)

Eight: Give the Kid a Chance (#u8cbb53b9-14fd-52c4-85aa-36dd34e750c6)

Nine: A Job Made in Heaven (#litres_trial_promo)

Ten: Too Big For My Boots (#litres_trial_promo)

Eleven: Giving in to Temptation (#litres_trial_promo)

Twelve: Throwing it All Away (#litres_trial_promo)

Thirteen: Arrested with Cocaine in My Pocket (#litres_trial_promo)

Fourteen: Sheikh Mohammed Offers a Lifeline (#litres_trial_promo)

Fifteen: Champion Jockey (#litres_trial_promo)

Sixteen: A Lion in Paris (#litres_trial_promo)

Seventeen: Godolphin Comes Calling (#litres_trial_promo)

Eighteen: The Bookies Were Crying for Mercy (#litres_trial_promo)

Nineteen: Nobody Had Done It Before (#litres_trial_promo)

Twenty: A Brief Encounter at Epsom (#litres_trial_promo)

Twenty-one: Nightmare in Kentucky (#litres_trial_promo)

Twenty-two: A Horse in a Million (#litres_trial_promo)

Twenty-three: A Miraculous Escape (#litres_trial_promo)

Twenty-four: In the Grip of Lester (#litres_trial_promo)

Twenty-five: An Emotional Night in New York (#litres_trial_promo)

Twenty-six: A Question of Sport (#litres_trial_promo)

Twenty-seven: Slow Boat to China (#litres_trial_promo)

Twenty-eight: Summer of Despair (#litres_trial_promo)

Twenty-nine: Top Dog Again (#litres_trial_promo)

Career Record (#litres_trial_promo)

Index (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgments (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Praise (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

One I Knew I Was Going to Die (#ulink_9010b120-447d-5112-b0f6-6542930a7cf7)

Death came calling with terrifying suddenness on a bleak summer’s day in 2000. It happened as Ray Cochrane and I were taking off in a small plane from Newmarket racecourse on the sort of routine flight to the races that had been part of my daily schedule for the past fifteen years.

One moment we were sitting side by side in the rear seats as our Piper Seneca bumped alarmingly along the grass runway on that wet and windy June morning. The next I knew with horrible certainty that I was about to die as our little plane, fatally damaged on take-off, struggled to reach a height of perhaps 100 feet before plunging towards Devil’s Dyke, a huge ancient bank and ditch that lies between the July track and the main course at Newmarket.

White smoke was already streaming from a crippled engine, and there were the first signs of flickering flames as our doomed aircraft tilted crazily onto its right side, hampered from the lack of full power when we needed it most. In front of us our pilot Patrick Mackey was fighting manfully at the controls to keep us in the air long enough to avoid the dyke on our way down, but his task was impossible from the moment the right-wing engine propeller gouged into the ground just before lift-off.