FRankie Dettori walked into a bar… but don’t expect a punch line because no one was paying attention. “The other day I went to a restaurant with my wife,” he says, “and I went to buy a drink at the bar, and I found myself looking around to see if people were looking at me. But I realized no one knew who I was, and I thought, ‘this is great!’”
The last major sports celebrity from Britain to shift his career to Los Angeles is said to have struggled to maintain such a low profile. Posh and Becks immediately reached the upper echelons of the Hollywood A-list. Tom Cruise, Eva Longoria and Arnie were among the stars in attendance as David Beckham made his debut for LA Galaxy.
It registered as at least a 9.5 on the celebrity earthquake scale, while Dettori’s recent announcement that he will delay his long-awaited retirement and drive full-time in California starting in December has barely moved the needle so far at least moved. all. Of course, for much of 2023, it seemed like this weekend’s Breeders’ Cup meeting at Santa Anita, where he raced with considerable success in the early months of 2023, would be the final point at the end of a storied career.
Instead, it will now mark the beginning of a whole new chapter – or perhaps the next-but-one chapter, if one rumored detour to the Australian jungle will take place later this month.
There is a widespread feeling among trainers and jockeys at the California circuit that this is the right move, at the right time, for Dettori and Santa Anita.
“When I saw him here a few months ago, he was having a great time,” said Mike Smith, the most successful Breeders’ Cup jockey of all time and still an active rider at age 58. “So before he calls it quits, why don’t you come to America, maybe for a meeting or two, or however long he wants. It drives too, if not better than ever.
“He is who he is, a very likeable guy and a good person, and fun to have in the jocks room. It’s great when you have that kind of competition, and it will teach all those young guys to take their game to the next level. It definitely makes me do it, and it’s fun to ride with him.”
Dettori finished near the top of the jockey rankings when he rode the Santa Anita winter/spring meeting in the early months of the year, picking up rides from many of Santa Anita’s most successful trainers, including Bob Baffert, Phil D’Amato and John Sadler, best known to European fans for training Flightline, last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic winner.
“When he came in, we thought, maybe this is the end, this is just a handshake-and-hang-out kind of deal,” Sadler says. “But once he started riding here last year, everyone started to get it.
“This (the clear blue sky and the heat of 25 degrees Celsius) is part of it. That will also be the case on some days in January. He just seemed to really enjoy it, I put him on some horses and he rode them great. He didn’t drive old. He rode like he was really engaged and went for it (and) he will be even better received the second year because he did so well last year.”
Beckham’s move a year and a half ago has undoubtedly helped raise the profile of Major League Soccer, in a country where the NFL and NBA command an increasing share of the sporting public’s attention. Whether Dettori’s move will similarly increase the popularity of racing in Southern California, in a sprawling metropolis where only a small portion of the population is even aware of Santa Anita’s existence, remains to be seen.
But it is the sincere hope of Dettori’s longtime friend, Aidan Butler, who is credited with turning around Santa Anita’s fortunes since the traumatic spring of 2019, when thirty horses died on the track while racing or training in the first six months of the year. Butler, who was born in the Midlands and grew up racing at tracks such as Uttoxeter and Warwick, bought a ticket for Dettori’s ‘retirement party’ last month despite feeling hesitation about giving up the saddle. He also played a compelling role during Dettori’s busman’s vacation last winter, and sees his move as an exceptional PR opportunity for American racing in general and Santa Anita in particular.
“A few months before the announcement, I had an inkling that he wasn’t ready yet,” Butler says. “He just wasn’t ready to stop and it’s a different format here. He lives close to the track, he rides three, maybe four days a week, he doesn’t travel, the sun is shining. But he’s not just one of the best jockeys in the world and a nice guy. His personality is something we don’t have much of in America. He is a household name in England, but there are not as many household names here as there.
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“So when someone with his personality is there, yelling and screaming and getting off, I think it’s good for the whole ecosystem. The younger guys and everyone, even if they think he’s a little over the top, they make some jokes with him and it’s just good sport, really.
The main revenue stream for Santa Anita, and for American racing in general, remains excessive betting, not receipts. “I think it’s a little sad,” Sadler says, “but we’re not where we were, and football and basketball are the true cornerstones of American sports. But racing in California continues to do well (generating betting revenue), and our signal is selling well in other markets in the East.”
“He won’t see the same crowds (at most meetings) as in England, but he will on the big days as the Derby (early April), the Handicap (in March) and Opening Day on December 26 enormous.”
No current jockey can feed off the fervor and support of a big crowd like Dettori, and the extent to which the big days make up for afternoons when the stands are virtually empty could be a factor in determining how long his stay in SoCal continues.
From Butler’s point of view, though, it can’t start soon enough, and the track will do everything it can to attract fans to see Santa Anita’s new star attraction in person. “Historically, racing was the biggest show in town,” he says. “But there are a lot of things competing for the dollar now, and from an entertainment perspective you have to make sure everything you do is as good as you can make it.
“The best thing for racing is to get people here, to see it and feel the energy, and to see the care and attention we put into the place. “That’s how you fall in love with it. It’s hard to fall in love with racing just on TV.”