History-making jockeys Frankie Dettori and S’Manga Khumalo will clash this weekend as respective captains of the two teams competing in the Air Mauritius International Jockeys Challenge.
Both can look back on a single pivotal day in their respective careers.
Dettori became an international sporting icon on September 28, 1996, when winning all seven races of the Champions Day meeting at Ascot. He was already adored at the time, not only for his skill in the saddle, but also for his eccentric personality and his trademark “flying dismounts”.
Frankie Dettori (Supplied)
The final winner of the “Magnificent Seven” was Fujiyama Crest, who had been available at 12-1 in the morning. Alarm bells were ringing loudly for Off Course bookmakers after Frankie had won the first six races. However, on probably the darkest days in UK bookmaking history, the usual mechanics of the bookmaking system then suddenly broke down, as explained by writer Chris McGrath of the UK Independent newspaper. “Mug money” was pouring on to Fujiyama Crest on course. Bookmakers in the ring could not believe their luck. They could lay 2-1 against a horse whose chances in reality were closer to 12-1.
They felt it was imperative to seize the opportunity. Instead of meekly lowering the odds they continued to lay the horse at 2-1 for everything they had. The Off Course Starting Price (SP) is dictated to in the UK by the On Course market. Thus, the stand the bookmakers in the ring were taking was immeasurably raising the stakes on Fujiyama Crest off course too. One On Course bookmaker Barry Dennis laid the horse to lose £23,000. Even watching the race, he remained convinced he had done the right thing. He recalled, “Reality … Frankie’s done it. I stood on my stool, staring, not hearing a thing, in a trance.” He went home to his wife and collapsed into a chair, sobbing. The losses to the bookmaking industry were about £30million, with Hills over £8m down and Ladbrokes even more. One North London betting shop still has its clock stopped on the exact time Fujiyama Crest crossed the line.
On Course bookmaker Gary Wiltshire was the biggest individual loser. He had been on his way to a Worcester jumps meeting when a motorway pile up forced him to change his plan and head for Ascot. The decision cost him £1 million. Frankie had started the day saying, “I could have an each-way chance in the first, and I may win the third.” It was the day the mug punters finally had their revenge. One Mary Bolton’s Ladbrokes £5 accumulator on Frankie’s seven mounts netted her £500,000. Dettori later bought Fujiyama Crest as a pet and the gallant horse happily lived out his retirement on the Dettori family small holding.
Dettori was born in Milan on 15 December 1970. His father Gianfranco was a champion jockey in Italy and his mother a professional circus performer. At age 14 Frankie left home to work for trainer Luca Cumani at Newmarket. In 1989 he was made Cumani’s stable jockey after becoming Champion apprentice. In 1990 he rode 100 winners in a season, the first teenager to achieve the feat since Lester Piggot. In 1994 he joined Godolphin. He won his and Godolphin’s first English classic on Balanchine the same year in the Epsom Oaks. He was UK Champion jockey in 1994, 1995 and 2004. In 18 years with Godolphin he rode 943 winners from 3,430 rides. A phenomenal 110 of those winners were at Gr 1 level. Dettori has ridden the winners of more than 500 Group races, including 16 English Classics. Dettori split with Godolphin in 2012. However, the flow of winners has not stopped. This year he rode 23 graded stakes winners, including four Gr 1s.
S’Manga Khumalo
This will be Frankie’s third appearance in the SA Jockeys International Challenge and his first since 2009. He recently achieved his 300th winner in Britain, but is yet to ride a winner in South Africa.
S’Manga Khumalo grew up in the poverty stricken township of Kwa-Mashu. He joined the South African Jockeys Academy in 2000 and was immediately commended for his “natural seat.” He was initially scared of horses. However, he went on to ride 104 winners as an apprentice. He rode over 60 winners in each of his first three seasons out of the Academy. Trainer Joe Soma recognised him as a champion in the making and said in 2008, “He has a natural talent and a lovely affinity with horses. He is always laughing and joking but when I see him get on a horse he goes into his own world.”
Khumalo big break happened in 2011 when St. John Gray put him on the filly Dancewiththedevil in the Gr 1 HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes. She thrashed the boys and two weeks later he rode her to another emphatic victory in the Gr 1 Laurie Jaffee Empress Club Stakes.
Sandwiched in between those two big wins, Khumalo won the Kenya Derby on a South African-bred horse.
Alas, a terrible fall at Turffontein in June that year saw him laid off until November. In his comeback the injuries continued to plague him and in March 2012 he even considered hanging up his boots. However, he was talked out of it and later that year rode the Soma-trained Wagner to victory in the Gr 1 Sansui Summer Cup. Later that season he won the Gr 1 President’s Champions Challenge on the Sean Tarry-trained Heavy Metal. Then came the pivotal day when becoming the first black jockey to win the Vodacom Durban July, partnering Heavy Metal to victory on July 6, 2013.
His confidence soared and he became a major force virtually overnight. Two weeks after the July, he rode the first five legs of the Pick 6 at Turffontein.
He won the National Jockeys Championships in the 2013/2014 season and established himself as first call rider to current national champion trainer Sean Tarry. Khumalo won the championships again last season and has developed into the consummate professional.
By David Thiselton
