Veteran jockey steered Fanny Logan to Hardwicke successDettori: ‘It’s brilliant to have 70 - that’s a lot and I want 71 now’Frankie Dettori’s first Royal Ascot winner came in the meeting’s first race, the
Queen Anne Stakes, in 1990. He had to wait just over two years for the second, on Drum Taps in the Gold Cup in 1992, and the same horse was his only winner at the 1993 Royal meeting, too.
It is fair to say that Dettori has quickened the pace just a little since then – so much so, in fact, that on Friday, 30 years to the day after Markofdistinction got home by a neck in the Queen Anne, he crossed the line in front at the Royal meeting for the 70th time in his career. Only Lester Piggott, with an incredible 116 in an era when the meeting only covered four days, and the late Pat Eddery, with 73, have had more success at Flat racing’s most prestigious festival.