thumb|Frankie Dettori in the parade ring at 'Glorious Goodwood' in August 2004

thumb|Frankie Dettori in the parade ring at Newmarket after riding in the 2000 Guineas 2005

Lanfranco "Frankie" Dettori (; born 15 December 1970), is a retired Italian jockey who was based in England for a career spanning over 35 years. He was British flat racing Champion Jockey three times (1994, 1995 and 2004) and rode the winners of 288 Group 1 races including 23 winners of the British Classic Races. His most celebrated achievement was riding all seven winners on British Festival of Racing Day at Ascot Racecourse on 28 September 1996.

Born in Milan, Dettori is the son of Italian champion jockey Gianfranco Dettori. At the age of fourteen he went to Newmarket in England to work first as a stable lad, later as apprentice jockey and stable jockey in the yard of Luca Cumani, winning the British flat racing Champion Apprentice title in 1989. He was appointed stable jockey for Sheikh Mohammed's newly founded Godolphin Racing in 1994 and during the next eighteen years rode most of his worldwide big race victories in Godolphin's royal-blue colours. In 2000 Dettori and fellow jockey Ray Cochrane survived a light aircraft crash at Newmarket.

At the end of 2012, Dettori split from Godolphin Racing, and was suspended from riding for six months after failing a drugs test in France. From June 2013 to July 2018, he was the retained rider in Britain for Sheikh Joaan Al Thani's Al Shaqab Racing. After that, many of his winners including Enable and Stradivarius came from the stables of John Gosden. Dettori announced in December 2022 that 2023 would be his final year of professional riding. In December 2023 he moved to California to continue to race in the United States and on the international circuit. He retired from race riding in February 2026.

Outside racing he has worked in TV, appearing as a team captain on A Question of Sport from 2002 to 2004, and opened several Italian restaurants in partnership with chef Marco Pierre White.

Early life

Dettori was born in Milan, Italy, on 15 December 1970. His father, Gianfranco Dettori, was a 13 times Italian Champion Jockey, who had won the British 2,000 Guineas in 1975 on the Henry Cecil trained Bolkonski and in 1976 on Wollow, also trained by Cecil. His mother Mara was a circus performer. Soon after his birth, Dettori's parents divorced. Until he was five, Dettori and his sister lived with their mother; after that they lived with their father and stepmother. As a child, Dettori was more interested in football than racing, but that changed when he was eight and his father bought him a palomino pony called Silvia. Aged nine, he rode Silvia in the Pony Derby at San Siro racecourse; he came last and fell off after the finishing line.

Dettori left school aged thirteen to work in racing stables and, in July 1985, left Italy for England to work in the yard of trainer Luca Cumani at Newmarket, Suffolk|Newmarket. It was at first a culture shock, as he had to adapt to a new language, and strange food and drink such as Heinz tinned ravioli and orange squash. Dettori returned to Italy for the winter of 1986/87 and his first win came on Turin racecourse in November 1986. Markofdistinction provided him with his first win at Royal Ascot in June 1990 and his first Group 1 win in September.

The 1991 and 1992 seasons saw fewer winners as Cumani had lost many of his best horses when major owner the Aga Khan removed his horses from training in England. In 1992 Dettori won the Prix du Jockey Club on Polytain, trained by Antonio Spanu in France, and the Ascot Gold Cup on Drum Taps, trained by Lord Huntingdon.

In 1995, Dettori was again champion jockey. Godolphin horses provided him with two more British Classic victories, Moonshell and Classic Cliche in the St Leger, while Lammtarra won the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Twenty years later he would refer to it as his greatest sporting achievement.

On 1 June 2000, Dettori and fellow jockey Ray Cochrane were aboard a Piper Seneca plane which crashed on takeoff at Newmarket on its way to Goodwood in Sussex. Cochrane pulled Dettori from the wreckage but was unable to save pilot Patrick Mackey. Dettori suffered a broken ankle and facial cuts and spent several days in Addenbrooke's Hospital

After the plane crash, Dettori devoted less time to racing and more time to TV work on A Question of Sport. Although still riding successfully in the big races, he had in his own words become a part-timer. It was his wife who encouraged him to get back to riding in the small meetings as well as the major ones, and, in 2004, he won the jockeys' championship for a third time.

Dettori's relationship with Godolphin was under increasing strain by 2012. In the spring of that year, Godolphin hired two younger jockeys, Mickaël Barzalona and Silvestre de Sousa, to ride alongside Dettori who found himself "jocked off" in big races. In October, Dettori rode Camelot for Godolphin's rival Coolmore Stud in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and later the same month Godolphin announced that they would not be continuing Dettori's retainer the following year. Following his six-month ban, Dettori made his racing comeback at Epsom on 31 May 2013. A week later, he won his first race since the ban, riding Asian Trader at Sandown. That month he was signed as retained rider in Britain for Sheikh Joaan Al Thani's Al Shaqab Racing. In 2016, Dettori rode Galileo Gold to win the 2000 Guineas for Al Shaqab Racing. He rode the Juddmonte-owned Enable to further Group 1 victories, including another win in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Also in the colours of Juddmonte, stayer Stadivarius provided Dettori with three consecutive Ascot Gold Cup wins in 2018–2020.

On 17 December 2022 during an interview with ITV Racing, Dettori announced that he would be retiring at the end of the following season, with his final rides likely to come at the November 2023 Breeders' Cup meeting at Santa Anita Park in California. He said that, having just turned 52, he wanted to retire while he was still getting good horses to ride in the big races. By the time he announced his forthcoming retirement, he had ridden 282 Group/Grade 1 winners worldwide, including 21 British Classic winners. On a return to Dubai in March, Country Grammer could manage only seventh place in the Dubai World Cup, but on the same evening Dettori won the Group 1 Dubai Turf on the Gosden-trained Lord North. On what was scheduled to be his final day of racing in Britain, Dettori rode Trawlerman to victory in the Long Distance Cup before completing a double on King of Steel in the Champion Stakes at Ascot on British Champions' Day on 21 October 2023. He also watched as Queen Camilla unveiled a statue of him at the racecourse. In December 2023 he moved to California and had ridden six winners within two weeks. His first Grade 1 win of his stay in California came in March 2024, when he rode Newgate, trained by Baffert, to victory in the Santa Anita Handicap.

In November 2025, Dettori announced that his rides in the 2025 Breeders' Cup would be his last in the US, and that he would retire after a tour of South America. He rode winners in Argentina and Uruguay before ending his career with a win on Bet You Can in the Grande Premio Estado do Rio De Janeiro, at the Gavea racecourse in Rio de Janeiro on 1 February 2026. "Racing has been my life", he said.

TV appearances

Dettori was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1998. Between September 2002 and September 2004 he was one of the team captains on the BBC programme A Question of Sport. During his suspension from racing in 2013, Dettori became a housemate on the eleventh series of Celebrity Big Brother and was the fifth person to be evicted from the house. In November–December 2023, Dettori appeared on the twenty-third series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, entering as a late arrival alongside Tony Bellew. He spent 12 days in the camp before becoming the first contestant to be voted off. In 2025, he featured in the Netflix documentary Race for the crown.

Restaurants

In 2004 Dettori teamed up with chef Marco Pierre White to open a chain of several Italian restaurants called Frankie's Bar and Grill. He has also published a cookbook and produced a line of frozen Italian foods.

Personal life

Dettori married Catherine Allen on 20 July 1997 at the Catholic Church in Newmarket. The couple lived in Stetchworth near Newmarket for 17 years and have five children. He has also spoken about bulimia and using laxatives and diuretics to keep his weight down. In 2011 Dettori was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science at Anglia Ruskin University. In March 2025, Dettori announced that he had filed for bankruptcy as his financial advisors had failed to reach an agreement with HMRC. The bankruptcy was due to be discharged after a year, but in March 2026 the court extended it for a further year as Dettori had failed to disclose all his assets, including properties abroad. The judge said that criminal sanctions were a possibility.

Major wins

Dettori won the following world-wide Group/Grade 1 races.

---- Great Britain

  • 1,000 Guineas – (4) – Cape Verdi (1998), Kazzia (2002), Blue Bunting (2011), Mother Earth (2021)
  • 2,000 Guineas – (4) – Mark of Esteem (1996), Island Sands (1999), Galileo Gold (2016), Chaldean (2023)
  • Ascot Gold Cup – (9) – Drum Taps (1992, 1993), Kayf Tara (1998), Papineau (2004), Colour Vision (2012), Stradivarius (2018, 2019, 2020), Courage Mon Ami (2023).
  • British Champions Sprint Stakes - (5) - Chummy's Favourite (1989), Diffident (1996), Sampower Star (2000), Acclamation (2003), Kinross (2022)
  • British Champions Fillies' and Mares' Stakes – (3) – Journey (2016), Star Catcher (2019), Emily Upjohn (2022)
  • Champion Stakes – (3) – Cracksman (2017, 2018), King Of Steel (2023)
  • Cheveley Park Stakes – (2) – Regal Rose (2000), Carry On Katie (2003)
  • Commonwealth Cup – (2) – Advertise (2019), Campanelle (2021)
  • Coronation Cup – (6) – Swain (1996), Singspiel (1997), Daylami (1999), Mutafaweq (2001), Cracksman (2018), Emily Upjohn (2023)
  • Coronation Stakes – (2) – Alpine Star (2020), Inspiral (2022)
  • Dewhurst Stakes – (3) – Too Darn Hot (2018), St Mark's Basilica (2020), Chaldean (2022)
  • Diamond Jubilee Stakes – (2) – So Factual (1995), Undrafted (2015)
  • Derby – (2) – Authorized (2007), Golden Horn (2015)
  • Eclipse Stakes – (4) – Daylami (1998), Refuse To Bend (2004), Golden Horn (2015), Enable (2019)
  • Falmouth Stakes – (1) – Nahoodh (2008)
  • Fillies' Mile – (7) – Shamshir (1990), Glorosia (1997), Teggiano (1999), Crystal Music (2000), White Moonstone (2010), Lyric of Light (2011), Inspiral (2021)
  • Goodwood Cup – (5) – Kayf Tara (1999), Schiaparelli (2009), Opinion Poll (2011), Stradivarius (2019, 2020)
  • Haydock Sprint Cup – (1) – Diktat (1999)
  • International Stakes – (6) – Halling (1996), Singspiel (1997), Sakhee (2001), Sulamani (2004), Authorized (2007), Mostahdaf (2023)
  • King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes – (7) – Lammtarra (1995), Swain (1998),Daylami (1999), Doyen (2004), Enable (2017, 2019, 2020)
  • Lockinge Stakes – (5) – Emperor Jones (1994), Aljabr (2000), Creachadoir (2008), Olympic Glory (2014), Palace Pier (2021)
  • Middle Park Stakes – (4) – Bahamian Bounty (1996), Lujain (1998), Dutch Art (2006), Shalaa (2015)
  • Nassau Stakes – (2) – Lailani (2001),Ouija Board (2006)
  • Nunthorpe Stakes – (3) – Lochsong (1993), So Factual (1995), Lochangel (1998)
  • Oaks – (7) – Balanchine (1994), Moonshell (1995), Kazzia (2002), Enable (2017), Anapurna (2019), Snowfall (2021), Soul Sister (2023)
  • Prince of Wales's Stakes – (4) – Fantastic Light (2001),Grandera (2002), Rewilding (2011), Crystal Ocean (2019)
  • Queen Anne Stakes – (7) – Markofdistinction (1990), Allied Forces (1997), Intikhab (1998), Dubai Destination (2003), Refuse to Bend (2004), Ramonti (2007), Palace Pier (2021)
  • Queen Elizabeth II Stakes – (6) – Markofdistinction (1990), Mark of Esteem (1996), Dubai Millennium (1999), Ramonti (2007), Poet's Voice (2010), Persuasive (2017)
  • Racing Post Trophy – (2) – Authorized (2006), Casamento (2010)
  • St. James's Palace Stakes – (4) – Starborough (1997), Galileo Gold (2016),Without Parole (2018), Palace Pier (2020)
  • St. Leger – (6) – Classic Cliche (1995), Shantou (1996), Scorpion (2005), Sixties Icon (2006), Conduit (2008), Logician (2019)
  • Sun Chariot Stakes – (2) – Red Slippers (1992), Inspiral (2023)
  • Sussex Stakes – (5) – Second Set (1991), Aljabr (1999), Noverre (2001), Ramonti (2007), Too Darn Hot (2019)
  • Yorkshire Oaks – (4) – Only Royale (1994), Blue Bunting (2011), Enable (2017, 2019)

:Dettori won every Group 1 race in the UK, except for the July Cup. He won the 1994 King's Stand Stakes on Lochsong when it was a Group 2 race; It was subsequently promoted to a Group 1 race.