HE’S at his most comfortable when in a saddle – but Frankie Dettori’s life has taken more twists and turns than even the longest racecourses.
The racing legend, 54, yesterday admitted he has been forced to file for bankruptcy amid a long-running battle with HMRC over tax avoidance – confessing he was “sad and embarrassed” by the outcome.
PAFrankie Dettori has been forced to file for bankruptcy[/caption]
Getty – ContributorThe jockey has gotten himself in plenty of trouble over the years[/caption]
PAFrankie has also spoken out about his struggles with bulimia[/caption]
The Italian, who racked up over 3,000 wins during his career, is no stranger to picking himself up from low points.
He’s dealt with it all – from getting himself arrested in a drugs bust back at the start of the Nineties to even making it out of a plane that burst into flames.
The jockey has also spoken out about how the pressure to succeed has led him to battle bulimia and ply himself with pills in an effort to keep his weight down.
Yet despite yesterday’s blow, Frankie should pull through – thanks to the “tough love” from his father and their years-long falling out stopping him from being too much of a softy.
The world’s most famous flat jockey lost a plea to keep his financial situation secret back in December when the High Court rejected anonymity.
His tax battle with HMRC comes despite winning £7.3million in prize money in 2019 alone and his 30 winners from last season being worth more than £5.5million in prizes.
Frankie has previously said the issue came about as a result of a tax structure created by his former financial adviser, that fell foul of HMRC rules.
“For the last six-months, my advisors have been working with HMRC in an attempt to find a solution to my financial situation. Regretfully, I will be filing for bankruptcy,” the jockey shared in a statement.
“I am saddened and embarrassed by this outcome and would advise others to take a stronger rein over their financial matters. Bankruptcy is a major decision and its consequences will affect me for many years.
“I am relieved to be drawing a line on this long-term matter, which enables me to reset and focus on my international riding career.”
Frankie, who is now based in California, has certainly enjoyed a colourful life ever since he was young.
Sent by his dad from Italy to England at just 14 to become a stable jockey, he put in the work and quickly saw results – though with that came a party lifestyle.
“Too much money, too much success, too many hangers on. I was single, I was living alone, I didn’t have any parents guiding me. By the time I got to 22 I had turned into a d**khead,” he told the Big Issue.
“I lost it. I loved the bright lights, loved the party, and loved the drugs. I loved the women.
“I just completely f***ing lost it. But that’s quite normal when you go from zero to success in such a short time.”
The rock and roll lifestyle came naturally to the young jockey, who was only a toddler when he was first put on a horse by his champion jockey dad.
Yet at just six months old, his parents separated – which Frankie says led to him having very different relationships with them both.
AlamyDettori was just 14 when he came to England from Italy[/caption]
AlamyDettori’s father, Gianfranco, was himself a champion jockey[/caption]
AlamyThe young Dettori quickly saw success and enjoyed a wild lifestyle living on his own[/caption]
“The first thing I would love to change in my life is that I wish my parents had not divorced,” he told the Big Issue.
“I don’t really know my mum. I spent most of my life with my stepmother and my dad.
“My mum has eternal love for me and I’ve got eternal love for her. But I’ve got no conversation with her, I can’t talk to her about racing because she doesn’t follow it.”
His dad, meanwhile, is a lot more old fashioned – and for a long time was Frankie’s biggest critic, only giving him a few hundred quid when he moved to England to toughen him up.
“He’s never happy, and he still b*****ks me every day, but I can’t change that. He doesn’t really mean it, it’s just the way it is,” Frankie said.
“My dad has always been a massive critic, but it was his way to try and make me good.”
I didn’t realise in London there were cameras everywhere, so I got arrested. At first I thought maybe I’d get away with it
Frankie Dettori
Living the high life in the UK, however, he had plenty to distract himself with.
But the party would soon be over – and things came to a head on a fateful day in April 1993.
On his way with some friends to watch Sheffield Wednesday take on Arsenal in the League Cup Final, Frankie’s casual drug use finally crossed a line.
Coke bust
“We stopped at services to have a pee and I scored some speed from this guy in the toilet. So then I was high on the way to the football. I carried on drinking, with a painted face, at the match,” he recalled.
“Then I ended up in London where I bought some cocaine from this guy in a club and I thought it was a good idea to go outside and snort it.
“I didn’t realise in London there were cameras everywhere, so I got arrested. At first I thought maybe I’d get away with it.”
But by this point Frankie was riding for the Queen – and the scandal wasn’t going to slip away quietly.
“Three weeks later I had to go to Marylebone police station, and there were three tiers of paparazzi on scaffolding,” he said.
ReutersDettori made the most of fame and money in his younger years[/caption]
GettyDettori, pictured here with the Queen Mother, was embroiled in a scandal after being arrested for cocaine[/caption]
News Group Newspapers LtdThe young jockey was in London to watch the football when he was caught[/caption]
“I thought, what the f***, someone famous must be around. But they were actually there for me.
“I was on every front page. And that was it, the party was over. It was an absolute turning point.”
In the end, Frankie received a caution and lost out on a £200,000 contract to race in Hong Kong.
But the jockey nearly didn’t live to see the age of 30.
Horror plane crash
In June 2000, Frankie got on board a light aircraft alongside former jockey Ray Cochrane, and their pilot Patrick Mackey.
The trio were heading to Goodwood, West Sussex, for a race meeting.
Frankie Dettori’s greatest moments
WITH more than 3,350 victories under his belt, here are some of the jockey’s greatest moments as selected by William Hill…
Magnificant Seven at Ascot (1996) One of the most iconic moments in horse racing history, Dettori achieved the impossible by riding all seven winners on a single racecard. Many think the feat will never be replicated.
Winning two Prix De l’Arc de Triomphes with Enable Having won the prestigious race six times, few will forget Dettori’s iconic back-to-back wins in the flat race in 2017 and 2018
Third Ascot/Goodwood Cup success with Stradivarius (2020) Dettori also had a great relationship with Stradivarius, and thanks to Dettori the horse was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the National Horseracing Museum.
Breeder’s Cup Classic Aboard Raven’s Pass Dettori won this iconic North American race back in 2008, in a milestone career moment that proved he wasn’t just one of the best jockeys in Europe, but the world.
Longines World’s Best Jockey With the award taking into account only his performances in Group and Grade 1 races around the world, it says a lot that Dettori has won it a whopping four times – in 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Yet just moments after take-off, the plane burst into flames and came crashing into the ground.
By some miracle, Frankie suffered only a broken ankle and damaged his thumb – though only after being dragged out of the flaming wreckage by Roy, through the plane’s luggage compartment.
Writing in his memoir, Frankie recalled the terror he felt as the plane plummeted to the ground.
“We were being pulled down to the ground. We’re going to die, we’re going to die, we’re going to die,” he wrote.
“It seemed so stupid. I was in perfect health, one of the best in the world at what I did, I’d just won the Gold Cup, and most of all I had a wife and baby boy I loved. All about to be wiped out so close to home I could practically see my front door.
He added: “I didn’t even have the strength to scream or cry. What I felt most, even beyond fear, was disappointment.
“My life wasn’t flashing in front of my eyes like it is said to at times like these. I just thought ‘Why? Why take me now?’”
Dettori and fellow jockey Ray Cochrane were lucky to survive when a plane they were in burst into flames shortly after takeoffNews Group Newspapers Ltd
PA:Press AssociationThe crash killed pilot Patrick Mackey[/caption]
News Group Newspapers LtdDettori made true on a promise he’d made to his younger self and bought a Ferrari[/caption]
Emergency workers were unfortunately unable to reach their pilot Patrick, who died at the scene.
Frankie’s miracle survival, and the loss of Patrick, shocked him into completely changing his attitude to life – and led him to fulfil a lifelong dream.
“I couldn’t shake off the feeling I’d had since the crash: why did he die, when I didn’t?,” he wrote.
“He was such a good guy, and 52 is no age to go.
“I remembered a promise I made to myself as a little boy, to own a Ferrari before I turned 30. I was 29 then, and the crash had shown me life was all about seizing the day.
“I went to the dealership and bought a 360 Modena.”
For 18 months, I thought I was a leper. I just couldn’t get a ride
Frankie went on to recover from the crash and establish himself as one of history’s greatest horse riders.
But after the success came another low – when, in 2012, he received a six-month ban after testing positive for cocaine in France, just as other jockeys were getting promoted ahead of him.
“For 18 months, I thought I was a leper. I just couldn’t get a ride,” he said.
“I was massively depressed and I became bulimic.
Though he had been bulimic before – given the pressure jockeys face to keep their weight as low as possible – this time was much worse, forcing him to even consider retiring.
“It’s common for a jockey, obviously, but I was looking at food as comfort,” he told the Guardian.
“I felt I was being finished without my own control, and that’s a very scary thing when you’re a sportsman. I was thinking, if this goes on, I might have to finish by the end of the season.”
Yet Frankie pulled through and is still riding – though keeping his weight down hasn’t gotten any easier.
AlamyHis daughter, Ella, is also a jockey[/caption]
News Group Newspapers LtdThe Sun’s front page in 2012 when Dettori tested positive for the illegal substance[/caption]
RexThe jockey appeared on 2023’s series of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here![/caption]
Last March, he revealed he was on a “starvation” diet in a bid to take his weight below what he’d previously called his “bare minimum”.
He’s also revealed he’s taken laxatives get himself as light as possible.
The jockey is also approaching three decades of marriage to his wife, Catherine Allen, who he wed in a Newmarket church.
Together, they have five children – one of whom, Ella, 19, is following in her dad’s footsteps by becoming a jockey.
But fortunately for her, Frankie isn’t carrying on his dad’s critical parenting style.
“I’m completely the opposite with my children. I’m more like the older brother than the dad, I’m the easy pushover in the family,” he said.
“My wife, she’s the one they’re scared of. But they’ve turned out OK.”
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