Lanfranco “Frankie” Detorri is a UK-based award-wining horse racing jockey of Italian descent. Pronounced Champion Jockey three times and with the enviable record of having ridden well over 500 winners of group races, Frankie’s most outstanding feat was his 1996 riding of all the seven winning horses on the widely celebrated British Champions Day at Ascot.Detorri’s father, Gianfranco Detorri, was also a legendary horse jockey in Italy.
Frankie Detorri was recently described by Lester Piggott as the finest rider in racing. From the early years of 2012, Dettori has been operating as a freelance jockey after splitting with Godolphin Racing – for whom he’d acted as stable jockey and registered several exemplary triumphs.
Detorri was born in Milan, Italy. His very first experience with horses was at the tender age of 12 – when his dad bought him a Palomino pony. Slowly drifting into his lifelong passion, the young rider later became an apprentice jockey and a stable boy. At 14, he traveled to the United Kingdom where he became trainer Luca Cumani’s protege in 1985.
In 1990, he earned fame as the first teenager to steer 100 winners within a single sporting season – a breathtakingly rare feat only Lester Piggott had achieved at the time. His influence on the track soared rapidly throughout the following years until he scooped an honorary MBE.
On September 28, 1996 at age 25 Dettori became the first ever jockey to win all seven races on the card, at Ascot. This became known as the Magnificent 7. Plenty of punters cleaned up too, one even winning half a million pounds.
Frankie Detorri lives in Stetchworth close to Newmarket. The legend’s close-knit family includes his spouse Catherine and five children: Leo, Ella, Mia, Tallula, and Rocco. He’s undeniably one of the most noteworthy jockeys of all time – the leading racing champion of our times, as Piggott aptly opined.
