THE bookies are quaking in their boots at the thought of a good week for Frankie Dettori at Royal Ascot.
It’s 25 years since legendary jockey Dettori won all seven races on a card at Ascot in September 1996 – costing the bookmaking industry millions.
And the bookies are having sleepless nights again as punters jump on board Dettori’s rides at Royal Ascot this week.
The Italian is expected to kick his week with a winner in the first race aboard red-hot favourite Palace Pier.
The horse won the Lockinge Stakes in easy fashion last time and he is the 4-9 favourite with Paddy Power in the Queen Anne Stakes.
In the King’s Stand Stakes Dettori rides the American-trained Extravagant Kid, and he has halved in price with Paddy’s, who have been forced to cut him into 6s from 12s.
And it is a similar story in the St James’ Palace Stakes, where Dettori’s mount Thunder Moon has been cut from 14-1 into 8-1.
Dettori’s Lord North has also been attracting plenty of support in Wednesday’s Prince Of Wales’s Stakes.
The horse won the race 12 months ago and he is a rock-solid favourite to defend his crown.
Dettori will be hoping to make Ascot history in the Gold Cup on Thursday as Stradivarius chases a fourth win in the 2m4f feature.
Another win in the big race would equal the record set by Yeats, and the horse is the hot 5-6 jolly.
On Friday, Dettori is on the well-fancied favourite Flotus (4-1) in the Albany Stakes and then hops on Campanelle (5-1) for Wesley Ward in the Commenwealth Cup.
Dettori has been cut to into 6-4 to be the leading jockey at Royal Ascot – a crown he has held for the last two years.
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Spokesperson Paddy Power said: “England looking good in an international tournament, Frankie Dettori scaring bookmakers – all we need now is Spice Girls to be number 1 and we’ll have fully gone back to 1996”
“It’s been 25 years of PTSD for the bookmaking industry and it could be happening all over again as punters will be hoping Dettori can take the shirt off my back.
“A topless bookie definitely doesn’t meet Royal Ascot’s strict dress code.”
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