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Frankie Dettori latest: Analysis of John Gosden fallout and 'sabbatical' following Royal Ascot
For Brexit, read Frexit.
Six years to the week since that historic referendum, John Gosden took a leaf from one legendary Italian’s playbook to dispense with the services of another - and the process was ice cold in its execution.
From studied midweek silence to the granting of a face-to-face chat with the man he calls “our hero” and a skilfully crafted statement outlining a mutually agreed sabbatical with a Friday night release that a cynic might suspect was timed to minimise damaging publicity.
John Gosden channelled his inner Machiavelli to ensure that Frankie’s exit from one of the biggest jobs in racing was expedited with the minimum of awkwardness and only the most one-eyed Dettori disciple would dismiss the decision out of hand.
It’s testament to Dettori’s sustained excellence over many years that you can count the times when he has missed his cue on the world stage on the fingers of one hand.
Yes, there was an embarrassing Breeders’ Cup Classic defeat on Swain way back in 1998 and that awkward case of premature jock elation when he celebrated victory on Lady Aurelia only to find that Marsha and Luke Morris had shaded Nunthorpe victory in 2017.
But time can dull the edge of even the sharpest blade and the last twelve months have forced Gosden and some highly influential owners to ask some hard questions:
- Would Stradivarius have run down the relentless Subjectivist and co in last year’s Gold Cup had he not been locked in a pocket at a crucial stage?
- Might the triple Gold Cup hero have beaten Trueshan (and Tashkan) but for a similar incident in the Long Distance Cup on Champions Day?
- Did the fact that Frankie stretched his neck looking round for Baaeed jeopardise Palace Pier’s chance of a perfect farewell in the QEII on the same afternoon?
- Would Emily Upjohn have overcome her bad start to win the Oaks had she not circled the globe seeking supposedly better ground entering the straight?
- Did Frankie’s inability to whip the hood off Lord North’s head affect the result of the Prince of Wales’s Stakes?
- Could Strad have made amends for earlier mishaps granted smoother sailing in a Gold Cup that did a passable impression of a three-furlong dash last week?
- And would Saga have given Gosden and the Queen a cherished royal winner in Platinum Jubilee Year granted better track position in the Britannia?
The answers to those not-so-magnificent seven questions range from highly unlikely (’21 Gold Cup and QEII) to almost certainly (Saga) but the only view that really matters belongs to the most notable trainer yet to be knighted and it’s not reckless to speculate that this week’s events might have bruised him, too.
The hair shirt has seldom been part of Frankie’s extensive wardrobe and his tendency to shift the blame more than once can’t have landed well with Team Gosden.
Seven such incidents in a calendar year would place any high-profile relationship under stress, let alone one where the rider in question was opting to work from home long before Covid struck, and Dettori’s departure to Sardinia last weekend left him vulnerable.
Gosden heightened the sense that something momentous was imminent with a series of spiky comments – including a none-too-subtle reference to youth taking over after Hollie Doyle’s French Oaks success on Nashwa - and an apparent failure to do his stable jockey the courtesy of informing him that he was being benched this weekend.
And so, after Friday’s white smoke from the Clarehaven chimney, the temptation to speculate and view things through a personal prism is hard to resist.
Gosden has won thousands of minds with his skills and eloquence as a voice for racing in the 21st century, though his statesmanlike manner masked a ruthless streak which surfaced when stable stalwart Jimmy Fortune lost the 2009 BC Classic ride on Raven’s Pass to Dettori.
Meanwhile, Frankie was winning millions of hearts as a major star long before John became a champion and his status as Flat racing’s only true crossover figure means there will be only one winner in the court of public sentiment.
Frankie’s fortunes have been a fixture in many a veteran media person’s career and, although there have been ups and downs, mine is no exception.
I’ve admired him during his emergence with Luca Cumani and Godolphin; feared for his life when ringing round as part of the RP news team on the day of his plane crash; torn my hair out trying to get a quote when things have gone awry; watched him light up chilly Morning Line studios and glitzy Hong Kong World’s Best Jockey bashes with his magnetic presence; and cheered like a maniac when he got Raven’s Pass home on that golden day at Santa Anita.
Put simply, there is a stardust reverence for Dettori that will always trump the establishment respect held for Gosden.
That significant difference will colour many a take on this week’s events and the suspicion that the most decorated rider of the modern era shuffled into Friday’s summit meeting in the Headmaster’s office knowing he had to tow the amicable line to have any chance of saving his career is unavoidable.
The idea that a 51-year-old with limited time left would genuinely want to take a sabbatical from riding horses like Inspiral, Stradivarius and Emily Upjohn for this summer and beyond is risible but this is what it has come to.
Gosden opened the door when a crop-headed Dettori came calling as things went wrong with Godolphin. His guidance paved the way for a golden partnership highlighted by wonderful horses like Enable, Cracksman, Golden Horn and Palace Pier and those ties ought to bind even if the five-time champion trainer does decide to appoint a new stable jockey.
Similar rifts have been healed in the past and it won’t take six years to find out whether this is a soft or hard Frexit.
But Frankie and Johnny both know full well that there are no sunlit uplands when you are forced to start all over again at 51. And, as the sun starts to set on a spellbinding career, there is absolutely no doubt who is taking back control.