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Frankie Dettori has called time on his legendary racing career with a successful evening in Brazil – less than a year on from his bankruptcy that left him unable to pay a £750,000 tax bill.
Dettori, 55, is estimated to have earned up to £20million from racing alone during his career. His best year for prize money was 2019 when horses he rode brought in £7.3m as he dazzled at Royal Ascot and partnered the starfilly Enable for his long-time supporter John Gosden.
With his flying dismounts, his ability to deliver a one-liner and the gift of getting horses to run like the wind, he was the character a previously stuffy sport needed to widen its appeal in the 1990s and it’s not going overboard to say there won’t be another like him. It’s why his retirement leads to mixed emotions.
Dettori, in his pomp, was almost unbeatable in final furlong showdowns but the one duel he was always going to lose was with Father Time – he was 55 in December.
For his health and well-being, ending this winter, after a couple of rides in South America, is right. Yet it is impossible not to feel a pang of regret that the man who so often wrote his own headlines and propelled racing to a wider audience – he achieved the ultimate recognition of simply being known by his first name – will no longer there.
His career came to an end in Brazil on Sunday night, where he rode Bet You Can to victory to win the Grande Premio Estado do Rio De Janeiro in Brazil.
Frankie Dettori, pictured in 2023, has retired from racing following a successful last meeting out in Brazil
Dettori, pictured with the Duchess of Edinburgh, 55, is estimated to have earned up to £20million from racing alone during his career
‘I can rest now, whatever else happens today,’ Dettori said after his win. ‘I couldn’t have asked for a better way to finish.
‘From the minute I got on the horse, it has been phenomenal. It’s a great place to finish, trust me. I’m very happy.’
He even performed a traditional flying dismount after the success.
In March last year, meanwhile, the rider suffered the embarrassment of being made bankrupt after it emerged he had been unable to pay a bill of more than £750,000 to the taxman.
The three-time champion jockey has been involved in a long-running wrangle with HMRC and in December 2024 said he had been ‘working hard to unravel the mess that I have been put in’ by a financial adviser.
No solution was found, though, and Dettori — the most famous face in horse racing for almost 30 years and one of the most successful jockeys of all-time — was declared bankrupt in March.
And in an update to the liquidation of Frankie Dettori Limited and Newmarket Activities Limited published on Companies House, it emerged yesterday there were no funds to repay creditors.
It is a remarkable situation for Dettori, who rode more than 3,300 winners during his glittering career and who famously had seven victories from seven rides at Ascot in September 1996, which came to be known as ‘The Magnificent Seven’ and led to lucrative spin-off deals.
The total amount owed to HMRC as of last October was £765,000 and £6,391 to a car leasing company. Combined with liquidator costs, the bill reached £888,799, which is set to be largely footed by the taxpayer.
He waved goodbye on Sunday after winning the Grande Premio Estado do Rio De Janeiro
Queen Elizabeth II presents Dettori with a winners prize at Ascot Racecourse in October 2017
When his bankruptcy came to light last year, he said in a statement shared with Daily Mail Sport: ‘I am saddened and embarrassed by this outcome and would advise others to take a stronger rein over their financial matters.
‘Bankruptcy is a major decision and its consequences will affect me for many years.’
The strategy, which a financial adviser proposed, involved making large ‘tax-deductible’ payments, over five years, into a trust which then made large ‘non-taxable’ payments back to him. This is known as ‘disguised remuneration’ and HMRC deemed the trust a sham.
‘He signed some documents and claimed that, even though nothing really changed, he now owed a lot less tax,’ Dan Neidle, founder of independent tax think tank Tax Policy Associates, previously told Daily Mail Sport.
‘The idea the payments to the trust were tax-deductible is beyond stupid.’
Now that he has closed the door on his 35-year racing career, he will stay in the sport, taking a full-time position as global brand ambassador for Amo Racing, the venture of football agent Kia Joorabchian.
Dettori has not ridden in Britain since October 2023, when he gave Joorabchian’s horse King Of Steel a sublime ride in the QIPCO Champion Stakes to win the Group One contest.
