Frankie Dettori produced the fairytale ending his final appearance at Royal Ascot had demanded by capturing Royal Ascot’s oldest race.
In front of the King and Queen, who 75 minutes earlier had enjoyed their first royal meeting winner, he delivered Courage Mon Ami with a perfectly timed run to win the £600,000 Gold Cup.
His win comes 30 years after his first at the historic Royal Ascot on Drum Taps back in 1992. He famously won the race three years on the spin from 2018-2020 on Stradivarius and this one will taste as sweet as the rest.
It completed a miraculous turnaround in fortunes for the 52-year-old, who is to retire at at the end of the season, at the fixture.
He had spent most of the first two days fearing he would be unable to add his score of 77 Royal Ascot victories.
He rode three second place finishes on the first day and received a nine day careless riding ban on the King and Queen’s horse Saga.
But his luck changed late on Wednesday when he won the Queen’s Vase on Gregory and he bagged his first Group 1 of the week on Courage Mon Ami, for the same owners Wathnan Racing.
Trained by John and Thady Gosden, Courage Mon Ami was having only his fourth career start yet beat 11-4 favourite Coltrane by ¾ length at the end of the 2m4f race with former winner Subjectivist third.
Dettori’s ninth victory in the long distance prize was not one he had been necessarily anticipated.
“I didn’t expect it.” he said. “The last five years I’ve had Stradivarius, so the pressure was on.
“This one I thought was a bit of a chancer coming from handicaps, but John was confident. I rode him cold and it just happened – I got the splits when I wanted to and he showed a turn of foot.
“The last half a furlong, I couldn’t give in to Oisin, I thought: ‘no, we’ve got this far, please keep going’. I
He continued: “It’s unbelievable, in my last year winning the Gold Cup. Myself, The King and Queen Camilla had a talk beforehand talking about his win and my relationship with his mother, Queen Elizabeth, then the next race I go on and win the Gold Cup and he presents the trophy. Amazing, really amazing.”
“Nine Gold Cups, what can you say – amazing. I’m speechless because I didn’t expect it, to be honest with you.”
The Gold Cup was presented by the King, with Dettori having received it previously from the Late Queen.
The jockey said: “It’s my last year, so this is the only chance I had. It’s pretty emotional. [The King] is a lovely man and Camilla is lovely and it is an honour to be able to ride for them [in other races] and to win the Gold Cup and be presented with the trophy [by them].”
John Gosden said: “It was a great ride from Frankie and sort of crowns his week. It’s been a phenomenal career and 30 years we’ve been working together on and off.
"We’ve had one argument in 30 years, how many marriages can say that? We patched it up after five days and we were winning Group Ones right away in Deauville. We had a disagreement, that’s fine that’s professional, and then we kicked on with life. Look at the result today.”
Full result
1) Courage Mon Ami
2) Coltrane
3) Subjectivist
4) Emily Dickinson
5) Nate The Great
6) Yibir
7) Eldar Eldarov
8) Echoes In Rain
9) Lone Eagle
10) Broome
11) Big Call
12) Wise Eagle
