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By Enda McElhinney
Dettori has been described as horse racing's ultimate showman - the celebrity jockey who transcended the confines of his sport.
The Italian-born rider is famed for record-breaking 'Magnificent Seven' winners in one afternoon at Ascot in 1996 and he has won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe more than any rider.
Racing in the blood
Lanfranco Dettori was born in Milan, Italy on 15th December, 1970. His father, Gianfranco Dettori, was a 13 times Italian Champion Jockey, who had won the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket in successive years for Sir Henry Cecil in the mid-1970s.
Though his first love was football, the young Dettori was given a palomino pony called Silvia by his father and, after riding at San Siro racecourse, his love affair with racing began.
He abandoned education at 13 to work in a stable and soon left Italy for England to work in the yard of trainer Luca Cumani at Newmarket.
He would base himself in England for nearly four decades and go to become racing's genuine superstar face.
Dettori, who is 5ft 4in tall and weighs around 8st 5lb, was an instant hit in the sport. He was champion apprentice for Cumani in 1989.
He became the first teenager since the legendary Lester Piggott to ride a century of winners in a British season.
But the young Dettori was impressionable and fond of the good times. He found himself in trouble with the police for drug possession in 1993 and soon vowed to forget the party lifestyle and focus himself on racing."The last thing on my mind each day was racing. All I thought about was partying and chasing the girls. That's why I ended up lost, on my own. I must have been crazy to let myself slip so far," he later said in his autobiography.
He soon landed a plum job with Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin racing team and started to make waves. He was champion jockey twice in Britain and won a host of major races around the world.
In September 1996, Dettori created a piece of folklore by riding all seven winners on a high-quality card at Ascot.
The accumulator was sealed at combined odds of more than 25,000-1 and made headlines around the world.
He landed the Dubai World Cup on three occasions and was champion jockey again in 2004.
The Epsom Derby was one major race that had continued to elude Dettori.
Despite his status as a master tactician, the Classic left him in purgatory until, at the 15th attempt, he scored on Authorized in 2007 for trainer Peter Chapple-Hyam as they justified 5/4 favouritism in romping home five lengths clear of the field.
He would add a second win on Golden Horn in 2015. In all, Dettori has partnered 23 winners in British Classics, with his seven Oaks wins the standout.
He rode to victory nine times in the Ascot Gold Cup amid a tally of 81 winners at Britain's most iconic Flat meeting, as his famous flying dismount became famous around the world.
In the final years of his time in Britain, Dettori teamed up for much success with trainer John Gosden, though the pair didn't always see eye-to-eye on everything.
Amongst those wins were successive Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe victories on the mighty mare Enable, for owner Juddmonte Farms.
Dettori announced that 2023 would be his last year riding in Britain before relocating to America.
He won many big races on his farewell lap, including the Gold Cup on Courage Mon Ami, the 2000 Guineas on Chaldean, the Epsom Oaks on Soul Sister, the Juddmonte International on Mostahdaf and the Champion Stakes at Ascot on King Of Steel, as he underlined why he has often been lauded as the King of the Saddle.
