Frankie Dettori walked into a bar... but don't F expect a punchline, because nobody paid any attention. "I went to a restaurant the other day with my wife," he says, "and I went to buy a drink at the bar and I found myself looking round to see if people were looking at me. But I realised that no one knew who I was, and I thought 'This is great!""
The last significant sporting celebrity based in Britain to divert his career path towards Los Angeles would have struggled to maintain such a low profile. Posh and Becks went straight into the upper reaches of the Hollywood A-list. Tom Cruise, Eva Longoria and Arnie were among the stars in attendance when David Beckham made his debut for LA Galaxy.
It registered as a 9.5, at least, on the celebrity earthquake scale, while Dettori's recent announcement that he will postpone his much trailed retirement and move to ride full-time in California from December has, so far at least, barely moved the needle at all. For much of 2023, of course, it seemed that this weekend's Breeders' Cup meeting at Santa Anita, where he rode with considerable success in the early months of 2023, would be the final full stop at the end of a storied career.
Instead, it will now mark the start of an entirely new chapter - or perhaps the next-chapter-butone, if a rumoured detour to the Australian jungle later this month comes to pass. Among trainers and jockeys on the California circuit, there is a widespread sense that it is the right move, at the right time, for Dettori and Santa Anita.
"Watching him when he was here a few months back, he was having such a wonderful time," Mike Smith, the most successful Breeders' Cup jockey of all time and still an active rider at 58, says. "So before he calls it quits, why not come and hang out in America, maybe for a meet or two, or however long he feels. He's riding as well, if not better, than ever.
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