Veteran jockey will accept up to a fortnight in quarantine in order to ride Palace Pier at Deauville on Sunday
In a sobering moment for
British racing Frankie Dettori, one of its most popular ambassadors, has chosen to ride in
France this weekend rather than take any part in the four-day Ebor meeting at York next week. The new quarantine restrictions mean that, by travelling to France on Saturday, the jockey will be unable to ride competitively for at least the next week but he calculates that is a sacrifice worth making for the chance to be on Palace Pier in Sunday’s Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville.
“It was a very hard decision to make,” Dettori said through his Sportingindex column, “but hopefully it will be the right one and Palace Pier can show us why.” Last seen scoring at Royal Ascot in June, Palace Pier is the 5-4 favourite for Sunday’s race, worth £290,542 to the winner.