The jockey faces four double-figure draws at Santa Anita this weekend and will need all his nous and experience to succeed
Not all the gamblers at Santa Anita this weekend will be in the track’s immense grandstand. Frankie Dettori has five booked rides on Friday and Saturday and four have been handed double-figure draws on the tight turf track. “It’s in the lap of the gods,” he said. “You’ve got to ride as it comes, perhaps take chances and hopefully it comes off.”
Dettori has ridden only 64 winners in
Britain in 2019, far removed from the 233 that earned him the first of his three jockeys’ championships in 1994. It has not been about the numbers for Dettori for many years and he is in no doubt that 2019, in which he has set a personal record for Group One winners with 19 so far, is the best season of his exceptional career.