Frankie Dettori has ridden his 3000th British winner, reaching the milestone on Predilection at Newmarket.
A 7-2 chance, Predilection led all the way with Dettori raising his left arm aloft when he crossed the line.
The 45-year-old then treated enthusiastic racegoers at his local track to his trademark flying dismount in the winner’s enclosure.
It was a fitting way to reach the target as Predilection is trained by John Gosden with whom Dettori has enjoyed such a profitable alliance in recent seasons, most significantly with last year’s Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Golden Horn.
“It’s special. I’m very emotional because my family are here as well,” Dettori said.
“I didn’t ride all week purposefully because Newmarket is where I’m from.
“I’m very pleased for it to have happened at Newmarket because this is where I landed 30 years ago.
“Who ever thought 30 years later I would have ridden all of those winners?
“I’m relieved and very humble.”
Dettori was also quick to pay tribute to Gosden for helping to reignite his career.
“He’s been instrumental,” he said.
“I started with him 20 years ago and he picked me back up when I was down.”
A three-time champion jockey, Dettori was won virtually all of the major races in Europe, but had to wait until 2007 for the clean-sweep of domestic Classics when Authorized struck in the Derby.
He also created headlines across the globe at Ascot in September 1996 when he went through the card with seven winners from seven rides, now known affectionately as the ‘Magnificent Seven’.
His career has, however, not been without controversy and in December 2012 he was hit with a six-month worldwide ban after he failed a drugs test while riding at Longchamp, in Paris, in September of that year.
Dettori remained on a downward trajectory after his split with Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin after an 18-year association.
But after having signed up as retained rider for Qatari powerhouse Al Shaqab Racing in the summer of 2013, his career has undergone an astonishing renaissance.
Big winners at big meetings have once again become commonplace, the most important of which this season came at Newmarket in April when Galileo Gold, owned by Al Shaqab and trained by Hugo Palmer, won the 2000 Guineas.
Dettori’s 3000 winners puts him at No.6 on the list of British Flat jockeys.
WINNING-MOST FLAT JOCKEYS IN BRITISH RACING HISTORY
1 Sir Gordon Richards 4870
2 Pat Eddery 4632
3 Lester Piggott 4493
4 Willie Carson 3828
5 Doug Smith 3111
6 Frankie Dettori 3000
