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It has been a thrilling, glorious and sometimes rocky path, but this time, it appears Frankie Dettori's mind is made up. The most storied jockey of the past 40 years is set to enter retirement following the primary events during the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar this Saturday, when he will have three opportunities to secure one last Grade One winner to his almost 300 already in his record. The sport might not see a career like his ever again.

A Household Name

Together with Lester Piggott and maybe John McCririck in the last 50 years, “Frankie” registers with almost everybody, no surname required. The public knows who he is, even if they possess absolutely no interest in what he does. In today's world that has been divided by digital platforms and the internet, Dettori may well be the final equestrian personality that will ever experience such immediate name-recognition across a broad swathe of Britain's people.

His entire career in the sport, in fact, goes back to an era when A Question Of Sport regularly pulled in over 10 million audience members, and his three-year role as a team captain was more than enough to cement him as the lively, unforgettable figure of racing. His final year on the show was 2004, that was also the year when he secured the top jockey award for the third and last occasion. As far as much of the British public, however, he has likely been the champion for many seasons since.

A Hard-Won Celebrity

It is, in many ways, a hard-won celebrity, a double-edged reward for events both on and off the track which have often pushed Dettori into the headlines, since that memorable day at Ascot in 1996 when he defied odds of 25,000-1 to win all seven races that day.

In June 2000, he was pulled from the burning wreckage of a small plane by his fellow rider, Ray Cochrane, after a crash on takeoff where the pilot was killed. When at last ended his quest for a Derby victory in 2007, that too was headline news.

While everyone admires a winner, they frequently adore an imperfect hero and a return all the more. A half-year suspension after a failed drug test for cocaine could have been the finish for many riders in their forties, more than enough time for owners and trainers to find a younger alternative. For Dettori, though, his 2012 suspension served as a bridge to a renewed association with John Gosden at Newmarket, and a fresh succession of winners and classic victors, such as Enable, Golden Horn and Stradivarius.

Public Highs and Lows

The celebrated successes and setbacks were an essential part of Dettori’s story, right up until the embarrassing confession in March that he filed for bankruptcy following a long-standing disagreement with tax authorities regarding unpaid taxes, a situation that Dettori tried, and did not succeed, to keep private.

There were so many twists in his story, in fact, that it can be easy to forget that without his tremendous, generational talent, there would be no narrative whatsoever.

Natural Ability

It was evident from his earliest days as a young apprentice that he had an instinctive rapport between horse and rider when Dettori was in the saddle.

Horses ran for him, and improved for him. In 1990, he was the first teenager since Piggott to reach 100 winners in one season, and also marked his arrival among the elite with two Group One wins at Ascot, on the same card that he would dominate without a loss just six years later. His iconic flying dismount, copied from the US legend Angel Cordero Jr, was incorporated into Dettori’s repertoire in 1994, and the thrill from riding a big-race winner has never left him. Nor has the gift of knowing, with something akin to clairvoyance, where to position, when to make a move and where openings will appear.

The Future Ahead

But what now for the public face of UK horse racing? It will not be easy to step away completely, whether or not Dettori fulfils his expressed wish to take “a few rides in South America, which is something he always wanted to do”. It is not, in fact, an ambition that he had mentioned previously.

However, the disastrous choice to accept the tax advice that resulted in his tax issues indicates that he will not end his career with sufficient funds in the bank to relax and take it easy.

New Role and Opportunities

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

Joorabchian personally, was gushing in his praise for his new recruit at Del Mar on Thursday. “He’s an icon, he is a true legend of the sport,” he stated. “When you talk about great sportsmen such as LeBron James, Currys, Lionel Messi and Pelés and similar figures, Frankie represents that for horse racing. When you go into Royal Ascot, you see a statue there, you realize that he has influenced countless lives worldwide.

“He’s not here|“He isn't here} to entertain people, he’s here to actually work and he will be collaborate with us closely. He will be involved in every area of our operations though he won't serve as a racing manager. He is an international ambassador.”

Reality TV is another possibility, although earlier outings on Big Brother and I’m A Celebrity … often showed a more somber aspect of his personality, behind the ebullient public image. In both programs, he was an early casualty of the public vote.

It may be that Dettori himself is unsure what he'll do and how he will fill his time after his race-riding days are over. And for at least 24 hours at least, he stays an elite professional jockey, focused on three mounts at one of the most prestigious and glamorous events in the calendar.

One Last Mount

A five-year-old mare named Argine will be his last top-level ride in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, the identical event where he achieved his first Breeders’ Cup success in 1994. Her form at home in Japan suggests that she needs to improve to compete, yet few jockeys in history have ever excelled in big moments like Lanfranco Dettori.

One last time, cue Frankie?