Adam Houghton charts the big winners and key moments for Frankie Dettori and John Gosden after they renewed their association in 2015.
2015
Golden Horn was reportedly the first horse Dettori partnered in work after renewing his association with the Gosden yard in March 2015. Golden Horn would go on to light up the summer with his exploits on the track, winning six of his eight races and registering four Group One wins in the Derby, Eclipse, Irish Champion Stakes and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
The ride Dettori gave Golden Horn to win the Arc was simply inspired. Drawn wider than ideal in stall 14, Golden Horn was kept wide of the main field initially before slotting in behind the pacemaker after four furlongs or so. He was ideally positioned from then on and the response was immediate when he was asked for his effort in the straight, ultimately winning by two lengths with a bit in hand.
Star of Seville also provided the Gosden/Dettori combination with classic success in the Prix de Diane, while top two-year-old Shalaa struck twice at the top level in the Prix Morny and Middle Park Stakes.
A total of 36 winners for the Gosden yard helped Dettori achieve his highest tally for the season since 2010.
2016
Dettori’s services continued to be in high demand but it was the Gosden stable which continued to underpin his success. The pick of his 38 winners for Gosden was Journey in the British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes.
2017
Enable was the headline act for Gosden and Dettori with five Group One wins in the Oaks, Irish Oaks, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Yorkshire Oaks and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. The Arc was run at Chantilly in 2017 because Longchamp was closed for redevelopment, but it made no difference to Dettori, who was once again seen to very good effect as he negotiated a potentially tricky draw in seamless fashion on his way to a record fifth win in the race.
Cracksman and Stradivarius featured among the other star names at Clarehaven in 2017. Admittedly, Dettori was forced to miss the ride due to suspension when Stradivarius gained his first Group One success in the Goodwood Cup, but he was in the saddle for each of Cracksman’s three wins in pattern company, culminating with a dominant victory in the Champion Stakes.
Dettori also teamed up with Persuasive to win the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Champions Day.
2018
Enable’s return to action as a four-year-old was delayed due to injury, but she came back to win all three starts in the autumn. After winning the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe for the second year in a row, she then became the first winner of that race to also win the Breeders’ Cup Turf in the same year.
Cracksman won his first two starts of the campaign, in the Prix Ganay and Coronation Cup, before meeting with defeat at very short odds in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes. He then spent four months on the sidelines before reappearing with another easy success in the Champion Stakes, forging clear in first-time blinkers to win by six lengths.
Stradivarius was the only one of the big three to enjoy a full campaign and he absolutely thrived on it as he established himself as the top stayer in training with five straight wins. He notably won the Stayers’ Million, a bonus awarded to the connections of any horse who could win the Yorkshire Cup, Gold Cup, Goodwood Cup and Lonsdale Cup.
The two-year-old Too Darn Hot was another star to emerge at Clarehaven, heading into the winter as ante-post favourite for the 2000 Guineas after his decisive victory in the Dewhurst Stakes, a first in that Group One for his rider.
2019
Enable won her first three races in 2019 – namely the Eclipse, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Yorkshire Oaks – before seeing her winning sequence ended when bidding for a historic third success in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. She looked the likeliest winner when quickening to lead inside the final furlongs before being pegged back by Waldgeist in the final 50 yards.
Too Darn Hot’s three-year-old campaign was also a source of frustration for the Gosden/Dettori axis, proving too slow to come to hand to run in the 2000 Guineas and then meeting with three successive defeats. Even after threatening to get his season back on track with wins in the Prix Jean Prat and Sussex Stakes, Too Darn Hot then suffered an injury which ended his career.
It was a sign of the strength in depth at Clarehaven that Gosden and Dettori still teamed up to win three classics in 2019. Anapurna was first up in the Oaks before Star Catcher registered the first of her three Group One wins in the Irish equivalent. Star Catcher also won the Prix Vermeille and British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes, with the other classic victory falling to Logician, a sixth winner of the St Leger for Dettori and a fifth for Gosden.
Stradivarius continued to sweep all before him in the staying ranks, notably landing his second Stayers’ Million courtesy of repeat victories in the Yorkshire Cup, Gold Cup, Goodwood Cup and Lonsdale Cup. His only defeat came on his final start of the season in the Long Distance Cup, when beaten just a nose after a thrilling battle with Kew Gardens.
Stradivarius’ second Gold Cup win came on the Thursday of Royal Ascot, when Dettori struck fear into the industry by riding the first four winners on the card. A runner-up effort on the Gosden-trained Turgenev (who was sent off at 7/2 having been 16/1 earlier in the day) in the Britannia eventually provided a measure of relief for the terrified layers.
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2020
The curtain came down on Enable’s career after she once again met with defeat in her bid to become the first three-time winner of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. In truth, Enable simply wasn’t the force of old during 2020, though she still showed high-class form and easily beat her only two rivals to record a historic third win in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Meanwhile, Stradivarius made three appearances over a mile and a half during 2020, notably finishing seventh (one place behind Enable) when ridden by Olivier Peslier in the Arc. Before that, he still had time to underline his status as one of the very best stayers of the modern era. In fact, he produced the best effort of his illustrious career when winning his third Gold Cup, forging clear in the straight to land the spoils by 10 lengths, while he also won a record fourth Goodwood Cup.
The emerging star at Clarehaven was the three-year-old Palace Pier, who Dettori partnered to victory in the St James’s Palace Stakes and Prix Jacques le Marois.
2021
After a productive winter in Dubai, riding mostly for old ally Saeed bin Suroor before striking aboard the Gosden-trained Lord North in the Dubai Turf on World Cup night, Dettori then enjoyed a string of big-race victories on his return to British shores, including aboard Palace Pier in the Lockinge Stakes.
Palace Pier went on to the win the Queen Anne Stakes and Prix Jacques le Marois (for the second year in succession) before suffering a narrow defeat at the hands of Baaeed in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. Just a neck separated the first two at the line and Gosden suggested afterwards that Dettori might not have been at his best on the runner-up. “I think if he rode it again, he would have committed sooner rather than spending his time looking round,” Gosden said.
The Gold Cup was another race in which things didn’t go entirely to plan for Dettori. All eyes were on Stradivarius as he tried to emulate Yeats as a four-time winner of the race, but he could never quite get on terms with the front-running Subjectivist after meeting significant trouble early in the straight, eventually having to settle for a respectable fourth.
Stradivarius still added three more wins to his tally at the age of seven, justifying very short odds in the Sagaro Stakes, Lonsdale Cup and Doncaster Cup, while Inspiral went unbeaten in three starts, culminating with a dominant win in the Fillies’ Mile which meant she headed into the winter as ante-post favourite for both the 1000 Guineas and Oaks.
2022
York’s Dante Festival was good to Dettori as he won the Musidora Stakes on the hugely exciting Emily Upjohn and the Yorkshire Cup on the irrepressible Stradivarius, but the fates conspired against that pair on their next starts – Emily Upjohn was beaten just a short head in the Oaks despite losing ground when propping leaving the stalls, while once again Stradivarius didn’t enjoy the rub of the green when attempting to win the Gold Cup for a fourth time.
Crucially, the ride Dettori gave Stradivarius at Royal Ascot drew more public criticism from Gosden. “I think there was obviously no real pace, and I was a bit surprised being in the box seat we dropped back so far,” he said. “There are younger horses there who are first and second, but I think I just wish we’d been a little handier and not had to go round a wall of horses.”
Gosden stood by his comments the following afternoon when interviewed after Dettori had partnered Inspiral – absent since the Fillies’ Mile after missing the classics – to a sparkling win in the Coronaton Stakes. The ride Dettori had given Saga, a fast-finishing second in the race straight after the Gold Cup, the Britannia Stakes, also came into question, with Gosden expressing his belief that the horse should have won.
Questions were raised about their partnership when Dettori - who was due to be in action on the card - wasn't booked on any of the stable's runners at Newmarket on Saturday. On the eve of the meeting Gosden released a statement confirming that the pair had agreed to “take a sabbatical” from their association.
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