Jockey Frankie Dettori plans to retire at 2023 Breeders' Cup

Jockey Frankie Dettori plans to retire at the 2023 Breeders' Cup.

The leading international jockey, who just turned 52 on Dec. 15, plans to ride an international farewell, as stated on an interview with ITV Sports and reported by Sky Sports. He won his first race at Turin on Nov. 16, 1986 at the age of 16 and has been winning in the United Kingdom since the following year.

As befits such a global career, Dettori plans to make his 2023 a worldwide farewell. The first phase of that will happen in the United States, as Dettori plans to hang his tack in Southern California for the beginning of the Santa Anita winter meet.

"I'm riding Boxing Day in Santa Anita and planning to spend about 10 weeks in California and then I should make my way back, with Dubai and Saudi in between, to start the season in Newmarket." Dettori stated in the ITV interview. "I'll be riding right through. Obviously it'll be my last Guineas, my last Derby, my last Royal Ascot and so on and so forth. Then, I'll probably finish at the end of the season, could be Champions Day or Newmarket, and then probably have the final farewell at the Breeders' Cup."

Breeders' Cup is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 3 and Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023, at Santa Anita Park. Dettori has been riding at the Breeders' Cup since 1990, with 118 mounts in that time. He has won at the meeting 14 times, most recently in 2018 with Expert Eye in the Breeders' Cup Mile and Enable in the Breeders' Cup Turf. He also won the Breeders' Cup Classic in 2008 with Raven's Pass.

Perhaps Dettori's most famous riding feat came on Sept. 28, 1996, when he won all seven races at British Champions Day at Ascot. He has won 282 races at the top level including two editions of the Epsom Derby (G1) with Authorized (2007) and Golden Horn (2015). His success has resonated far outside the Breeders' Cup and his adopted home of the United Kingdom. Dettori has won flagship races elsewhere in the world as well, including six victories in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, four editions of the Dubai World Cup, three runnings of the Japan Cup and three editions of the Italian Derby in his native country.

Even into his fifties, Dettori is still winning world-class races. In 2022 his Group 1 victories included the British Champions Sprint and the Prix de La Forêt with Kinross, the British Champions Fillies' and Mares' with Emily Upjohn, the Coronation and the Prix Jacques la Marois with Inspiral and the Dubai World Cup with leading American handicap horse Country Grammer.