Frankie Dettori does NOT 'want to end' his career like Ronaldo
Frankie Dettori claims he does NOT ‘want to end’ his career like football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo did at Manchester United as the legendary jockey prepares for his last ever Ascot
- Ascot is the site of one of Frankie Dettori’s greatest achievements in racing
- Cristiano Ronaldo ended his Manchester United career in bitter circumstances
- The veteran’s outstanding Ascot record lands him plum ride on Desert Crown
Frankie Dettori has drawn inspiration from an unlikely source as he prepares to race in his final Royal Ascot, beginning on Tuesday.
The Italian jockey is set to bring the curtain down on a glittering career in racing, and claims that he has looked to football star Cristiano Ronaldo when it comes to how he wants to end his time in the saddle.
Ascot is a special place for all jockeys, but for Dettori it is the site of one of the great achievements in a long line of stunning feats from his career.
Dettori won all seven races at the infamous track on the same day, September 28 1996, costing bookies a fortune estimated to be around £30million.
The 52-year-old has set his sights on bowing out at the top of his game, claiming that Ronaldo’s time at the top of football came to a relatively limp end compared to the glory days he enjoyed at Old Trafford.
Cristiano Ronaldo joined Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr under bitter circumstances
Frankie Dettori was adamant that he wanted to go out at the top of his game ahead of Ascot
Ronaldo ultimately left the club under a bitter cloud, having fallen away from the superstar status he had enjoyed as a five-time Ballon d’Or winner at the height of his powers.
‘I’d rather go out at the top. Look at Cristiano Ronaldo,’ Dettori told BettingSites.
‘In his last few games for Manchester United as a player, before he went to Saudi Arabia, he was probably not as excited or as on top of his game as he was at Man United in his glory days, or even his first season returning to Old Trafford. I wouldn’t want to end like that.
‘You are only one fall away from stopping, and at my age when I do fall, I break. In the old days I used to have 1200 rides a year, now it’s probably 250. The more rides, the more chance you have of falling off.
‘I am still unsure exactly where the curtain will come down on my career but I can say for certain that my last rides in Britain will be on October 21 at Ascot on British Champions Day. Come what may, that’s me done in Europe.
‘Which continent and whether I actually finish at the Breeders’ Cup in Los Angeles, Melbourne Cup or Japan Cup, I am not sure.’
Dettori has been doing just that, enjoying a glittering farewell tour from the sport so far this season.
The veteran enjoyed huge success at the Derby earlier in June, winning the Coronation Cup with Emily Upjohn in front of the horse’s owner, Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Dettori lifted the Coronation Cup on return to Epsom having come agonisingly short in the Oaks
Dettori compared John Gosden – for whom the Italian has raced since 1993 – to Jose Mourinho
Having first ridden for long-term friend John Gosden in 1993, Dettori will be continuing their now 30-year partnership next week at the pair’s final ever Ascot outing in a hugely beneficial partnership for both parties.
And the Italian was not done with the football analogies just yet, comparing the decorated trainer to one of football’s – and indeed Portuguese football’s – other great personalities, Jose Mourinho.
‘We don’t have to say much. He doesn’t overwork me, he gives me confidence when I need it and gives me a kick up the backside when I need it,’ Dettori said of Gosden.
‘He is a good manager of people, a bit like José Mourinho was in his heyday.’
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