‘For the first time, I won’t be there’ – emotional Frankie Dettori missing from York for Stradivarius’ farewell
IT could be seventh heaven for Strad at York today.
And for the first time I won’t be there to share it with him.
We won all six of our starts on the Knavesmire but this time I will be cheering him on from afar.
From Newbury, to be exact, where I’ve got three rides.
Stradivarius just loves York and is one of only three horses to have won six races there.
If he pulls through today he would hold the record for most wins on the course.
It would be amazing to see him get his head in front again in a race he has already won three times and would be another record to add to his stack of achievements.
He’s coming to the end of his career now and I hope he can be enjoyed by the Yorkshire crowd one more time.
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Baaeed raised the roof when he won on Wednesday and I’m sure Strad would do the same if he won.
It could be a brilliant day for his rider Andrea Atzeni, as he is also on the Nunthorpe favourite Royal Aclaim (3.35).
The two-year-old filly, The Platinum Queen, with Hollie Doyle on board, is the one I fancy, though.
She’s lightning-quick as she showed at Goodwood last time and gets a hell of a lot of weight from everything else in the field, including Royal Aclaim.
Wesley Ward’s classy Acapulco was the last two-year-old filly to try when she was second a few years ago, so it’s not an easy task for a young horse, but it’s not impossible.
Lyric Fantasy was the last filly to do it 30 years ago for the Hannons.
I’m going to Newbury to ride FRANTASTIC (3.50) for John and Thady Gosden.
He’s a full brother to Cracksman and is also owned by Anthony Oppenheimer.
We haven’t seen the best of him yet. He got caught in a pocket at Sandown last time and I don’t think the track really suited him.
Hopefully he’ll like the longer straight at Newbury and it’ll be a different story this time.
REBEL TERRITORY (2.50) isn’t a horse I know too much about, but it looked like he ran a good race in the Golden Mile at Goodwood last time.
That’s one of the toughest handicaps around so, fingers crossed, he has a nice chance off the same mark in this.
I also ride LIVALOT (3.20), owned by Emma Banks, who had so much success with Lady Bowthorpe.
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She is a great character, a big supporter of racing and a good friend of mine, so hopefully we will do well here.
Frankie was speaking via .
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