Frankie Dettori cannot even recall where he finished in his first Derby in 1992, but the one clear memory he retains from his debut in the Epsom classic underlines the extent to which he is a human bridge to a different age. “The only thing I remember is walking through the Gypsies [in the middle of the course] back in the day,” he said this week. “That was the only time I got to do that. From then on [after the paddock moved], we went all the way round [on the track].”
Devotees and historians of the Flat’s most famous race could also point out that it was one of the last to be run on a Wednesday, Lester Piggott was aboard the beaten favourite, Rodrigo De Triano, and Steve Cauthen and Pat Eddery were also among the 21-year-old Dettori’s rivals. And now, more than three decades later, his own time as the name that the once-a-year punters look out for on Derby day is drawing to a close.
