Frankie Dettori can look forward to riding a colt he named after himself before he heads into retirement at the end of the year.
Offered the chance to christen one of Prince Faisal Salman’s yearlings at his Denford Stud in Berkshire, he picked a son of Frankel out of Coronet which will be trained by John and Thady Gosden and called Lanfranco.
“We have had the Lanfranco name on annual retention for a few years and were amazed it was available,” said Richard Evans, farm manager at Denford Stud.
“Frankie and family were guests at Denford last April when Prince Faisal Salman invited them to choose one of the yearlings to name.
“We drove up to see the colts the following morning and Frankie honed in on the Coronet/Frankel colt straight away.
"Having ridden Coronet to two Group 1 races in France, It would have been hard to be completely impartial.”
Lanfranco is not expected to hit the track until the end of the season, but Evans added: “What a fantastic story to think Frankie could ride his namesake to victory in his retirement year.”
