Hello punters! In doing this little cameo on the Italian Wizard of the saddle, Frankie Dettori, I was literally spoilt for choice, for the man's life, sporting and otherwise, was and is absolutely chock-full of incidents and unusual happenings, one of which was life threatening in the extreme. Suffice to say that I will, in this rundown, try to highlight some of the most important aspects of the qualities of this wonderful jockey.

"Frankie", which is short for Lanfranco, was born in Milan, Italy, in December 1970, into what was a thriving racing environment, for his father, Gianfranco Dettori, was the then champion jockey of Italy, and in fact, did win this title on 14 occasions. G. Dettori, as the racecard named him, came to ride in England for a couple of seasons, where the best horse he rode was probably Wollow, on which he won the 2000 Guineas of 1976.

Frankie, of course, was always destined to be a jockey, so with that in view, he came to England at 14 years of age, and became apprenticed to the Luca Cumani stable at Newmarket. To say that he made a blinding start to his riding career would be overstating the fact, for indeed, his first taste of success came in the annual Donkey Derby at Newmarket, when he rode the winner, and gave his now famous victory salute for the first time on passing the post in front. His first racecourse success came in the November of that year (86), when, on a visit to Italy, he rode his first winner proper when partnering Rif, a horse that his father had bought for him, to a facile win at the Turin racetrack.

Frankie came back to Newmarket in the Spring of '87, and after a few unsuccessful attempts, finally rode his first English winner in the June of that year, on Lizzy Hare at Goodwood, at odds of 12/1, beating in the process his hero Steve Cauthen, Willie Carson, and Pat Eddery. Gradually, Frankie began to get more mounts, and with the Cumani stable generally in decent form, slowly but surely the winners began to come. As a young claiming apprentice, he also came under the notice of a number of the other Newmarket trainers, who were only too glad to take advantage of the talented apprentice's weight allowance. Frankie at this stage, in his eagerness for winners, was many times in the wars with the stewards for overusing his whip, at one time even hitting a particularly unruly horse over the head to keep him straight.

Cumani obviously didn't approve of this, so he took Frankie aside, and told him to mend his ways "or else!" At the end of that season ('89), he decided to go to California, where he rode as a work rider for trainer Richard Cross at the Santa Anita racetrack.

It was here that the young rider met the likes of Bill Shoemaker, Laf. Pincay, and Chris McCarron, all legendary jockeys in their chosen profession. Frankie struck up a good friendship with Angel Cordero, one of the leading riders on the Santa Anita track, whose style Frankie decided to copy. Cordero, who was lead rider to Richard Cross, took an interest in the young man, and gave him many useful tips about race-riding etc, and indeed, Frankie's USA visit was to prove very informative to him as to his future career, so when he returned to England in the Spring of 1990, he was very determined to take hold of the bit and make a sustained effort for the big-time.

Frankie settled down to business after this, and became champion apprentice in 1990, riding over a hundred winners in the process. He incidentally was the first apprentice to pass the century mark since the great Lester had done it many years earlier, so, one could say that he really had arrived to stay! Luca Cumani's stable jockey at this time was Ray Cochrane, who was a tremendous jockey, having come, in his younger days, from the famous George Todd apprentice academy.