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It has been a thrilling, glorious and sometimes rocky path, yet now, it seems Frankie Dettori's mind is made up. The most celebrated rider of the past four decades will effectively enter retirement after the main card at the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar this Saturday, where he has three chances to secure one last Grade One winner to nearly 300 already in his record. The sport might not witness a career quite like it again.

An Iconic Figure

Alongside racing great Lester Piggott and maybe John McCririck over the past half-century, “Frankie” registers with pretty much everyone, no surname required. The public knows his identity, even if they possess absolutely no interest in his profession. In a world which has become fragmented by social media and the internet, Dettori may well be the final equestrian personality who will ever enjoy such instant brand recognition across a broad swathe of Britain's people.

Dettori’s lifetime in the sport, in fact, dates back to an era when A Question Of Sport often attracted over 10 million viewers, and a three-year stint as a team captain was sufficient to cement him as the lively, irrepressible face of the sport. His last year on the show came in 2004, which was also the time when he won the Flat jockeys’ title for a third and final time. As far as many in the UK, though, he has likely been the top jockey in most years after that.

A Hard-Earned Fame

This is, in many ways, a hard-earned fame, a double-edged reward for incidents both on and off the track which have often pushed Dettori onto the front pages, since that memorable day at Ascot in 1996 when he defied massive 25,000-1 odds to win all seven races that day.

Back in June 2000, he was pulled from a fiery crash of a small plane by fellow jockey, Ray Cochrane, after a crash during takeoff in which the plane’s pilot was killed. When he finally concluded his pursuit for a Derby winner in 2007, that too was headline news.

While everyone admires a champion, they often love an imperfect hero and a comeback all the more. A six-month ban after a failed drug test for cocaine would have been the end of most jockeys in their 40s, plenty of time for trainers and owners to seek a younger replacement. For Dettori, though, his 2012 suspension served as a bridge to a revived partnership with John Gosden in Newmarket, and a new series of champions and Classic winners, including Enable, Golden Horn and Stradivarius.

Ups and Downs

The public highs and lows have been an essential part of Dettori’s story, up to and including the humiliating admission this past March that he filed for bankruptcy following a long-standing disagreement with HMRC over unpaid taxes, a circumstance that Dettori tried, and failed, to keep private.

There have been so many twists in his story, indeed, that it's easy to forget that without his tremendous, once-in-a-generation skill, there would be no story at all.

Early Talent and Instincts

It was clear from his earliest days as a young apprentice that there was an instinctive rapport with the horses whenever Dettori was on board.

Steeds performed for him, and improved for him. In 1990, he became the first teen since Piggott to reach 100 winners in one season, and also marked his emergence among the elite with a Group One double at Ascot, on the same day that he would charge without a loss only six years later. The famous flying dismount, copied from the US legend Angel Cordero Jr, was incorporated into his routine in 1994, and the thrill from riding a big-race winner has never left him. Nor has the gift of sensing, with something akin to foresight, where to position, when to make a move and where openings will appear.

The Future Ahead

But what next for the recognizable figure of British racing? It won't be simple to step away completely, regardless if Dettori fulfils his expressed wish to accept some mounts in South America, which is something I’ve always wanted to do”. This is not, in fact, a goal that he has mentioned previously.

But the calamitous decision to follow tax guidance that resulted in his tax issues indicates that Dettori will not draw down the curtain with sufficient funds in the bank to kick back and take it easy.

New Role and Opportunities

He has been appointed to a new position as a “global ambassador” with the football super-agent Kia Joorabchian's burgeoning Amo Racing enterprise. Dettori told Matt Chapman on At The Races last Friday this was the main reason for his departure now, as well as being able to conclude at the Breeders’ Cup. “Such chances are rare, very often. I appreciate the structure – it's a youthful team with big ambitions,” explained the jockey.

Joorabchian personally, was effusive in his compliments for his new ambassador at Del Mar on Thursday. “He is an icon, he is a true legend of the sport,” Joorabchian said. “When discussing great sportsmen such as LeBron James, Currys, Messis and Pelés and people like that, Frankie is that to horse racing. When visiting Royal Ascot, you see a statue there, you know that he’s made a big impact on so many lives worldwide.

“He’s not here|“He isn't here} to entertain people, he's here to work and he will collaborate with us closely. He will be involved in every area of our operations [but] he won’t be a racing manager. He is a global ambassador.”

Television reality shows is another possibility, although earlier outings on Big Brother and I’m A Celebrity … have tended to reveal a more somber aspect of his personality, beneath the cheerful public persona. On both shows, he was an early casualty of the public vote.

It's possible that Dettori personally is unsure what he'll do and how he will fill his time once his riding career ends. And for another one more day, he remains an elite professional jockey, concentrating on three rides at one of the most prestigious and dazzling events in the calendar.

One Last Mount

A five-year-old filly called Argine will be his final Grade One mount in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, the same race in which he registered his first Breeders’ Cup success back in 1994. Her performance in Japan in Japan suggests that she needs to improve to compete, yet few jockeys historically have risen to an occasion like Lanfranco Dettori.

One last time, is it time for Frankie?