Hello punters:- The 1991 season began rather slowly for Frankie, with the withdrawal of the Aga Khan's patronage continuing to have a detrimental effect on racing in general, but on the Cumani yard in particular, with the result that Frankie's hitherto winning streak was brought to a virtual standstill. In spite of this, the young Italian had his first major success when he won the German Derby on the outsider Temporal, beating the hot favourite Lomitas in a close finish.

His most important win of that season was to be Second Set in the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood, and he also had, for good measure, his first winner in France when he rode the John Gosden trained Susurration to a thrilling victory at Saint-Cloud.

It was fairly obvious though that the better class horses still seemed to be out of the young man's reach, for, by the end of that forgettable season, he had ridden just 97 winners, which dropped him to seventh place in the jockeys table, which certainly was a bit of a comedown for the aspiring young man.

That winter Dettori went to Hong Kong on a one-month contract to the Hong Kong Jockey Club, to ride in the young jockeys World Championship, taking on the likes of Yutaka Take, Corey Nakatani, and the young Irish champion, Johnny Murtagh. Frankie, riding brilliantly, duly won the Series, copping a whopping prize of £20,000 for his trouble.

This glimpse of the high life seemed to unlock something in Dettori, and he developed such a liking for it that, if it continued indefinitely, would be likely to put his career on the skids. Cumani, seeing what was going on, was very concerned about the situation, and was fast losing his patience with the young man, so he gave him a stinging lecture on the way a jockey should behave, and a final warning to change his ways!

It was in this type of climate that Frankie began the 1992 season, with the prospects for a successful campaign looking very bleak indeed, and the ongoing differences with Luca Cumani getting more serious by the minute. The winners came but slowly, until a light shining from out of the blue somewhere, in the shape of his first Epsom Derby ride on Pollen Count, which was offered by John Gosden. This horse had already won a Classic Trial at Sandown, and was well fancied in the betting.

On the day however, Pollen Count ran poorly, and finished well back in the ruck, to Frankie's intense disappointment. After the Derby, the young jockey received an unexpected booking from French agent, Robert Nataf, who asked him to ride an outsider, Polytain, in the upcoming French Derby! Surprise! Surprise! This horse, in the race, proved to be a lot better than his bare form figures showed, for, having been well back most of the way, he quickened very well when Frankie gave him the office in the straight, and won easily. Was Frankie's luck changing!

Well, more winners began to surface for Frankie, putting him on a little roll going into the Royal Ascot meeting. In the Gold Cup here he was on a horse called Drum Taps, which was well fancied. In the race, Frankie kept his mount up with the leaders, and kicked on in the straight, pinching a couple of lengths on the rest. About two furlongs out, Frankie saw Wally Swinburn closing on Arcadian Heights, who was a bit of a rogue of a horse, not averse to taking a bite out of anything or anyone near it. Well, Arcadian Heights came to challenge, and believe it or not, Swinburn's mount decided to try to take a bite out of Frankie's rear. How close the bite came to Frankie was well illustrated by the racecourse cameras afterwards, but Frankie did go on to win in spite of his close call.