When your father has ridden over 3,000 British winners, including clinching the Derby twice, you might think you’d want to give racing a miss — the expectation to succeed could weigh too heavily on your shoulders.
But Frankie Dettori’s youngest of five children Rocco appears to be relishing the challenge — albeit on a Shetland rather than a thoroughbred for the time being.
As 12-year-old Rocco gears up for the Shetland Pony Grand National at Olympia at the end of the year (12 – 18 December 2017), he headed to Ascot racecourse yesterday (31 July 2017) to get some top tips from his dad to give him the edge.
“After winning here on Saturday it was really special to be able to bring Rocco here, his first time on a racetrack,” said Frankie, who cruised to victory in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on Enable on Saturday (29 July 2017).
“There has been more press interest in me today with Rocco, than there was on Saturday!”
As well as putting his son through his paces on the racetrack, Frankie found time to show Rocco the ropes for that iconic winning dismount.
Frankie Dettori will also be competing at Olympia to defend his title in the Markel Champions Challenge — where some of Britain’s top jump jockeys test their mettle against their Flat counterparts in an against-the-clock showjumping competition — in aid of the Injured Jockeys Fund.
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But Frankie will face stiff competition as AP McCoy is preparing to step out of retirement to rival the world’s most famous flat jockey.
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A graduate from Durham University, Madeleine joined H&H in 2011 and became Features Editor — producing content across the magazine and website, including the popular inside back cover article ‘The horse that made me’ and the weekly ‘The best of my fun…’ interview. She has written on topics as diverse as hay making and headcams, to hot totty in the horse world and circus horses. Madeleine now works as a freelance feature writer for Country Life, The Telegraph, Horse & Hound, cntraveller.com, The Spectator and The Field, as well as writing obituaries for The Times.
