Frankie Dettori rubbishes any retirement talk as he fights back tears after emotional Newmarket winner

What a reception for Frankie pic.twitter.com/WxUjJs0v2h

— Callum Jamieson (@MrCallumJ) June 25, 2022

On the outside he appeared his usual bubbly self, but for someone so used to being in the limelight, he was clearly uncomfortable.

Looking stressed, tired and nervous he explained his plans to ride in Turkey, Germany and America  in the coming weeks.

Fiddling with his hands and twitching from foot to foot, he shot back into the weighing room when a couple of questions were fired at him.

He said: “I don’t know who I’m going to be riding for yet, I’ve only been free for 24 hours!”

He isn’t usually one for scripts, but this time he came prepared with what he wanted to say and it was a Dettori we’re not used to seeing.

But if he’d planned his day in his head, he could not have asked for a much better one.

As he entered the parade ring with a handful of other jockeys, the punters had again gathered to see their favourite.

They clapped as he came out and Dettori shook a few hands before Will Buick gave him a quick hug  . . . and no doubt a bit of stick.

But then it was game time and, no matter what Gosden might think, Dettori looked very much in the zone as he was legged up on Lezoo.

Perhaps on purpose, this is Dettori after all, he was the last to go out after an extra lap of the parade ring.

“Go on Frankie,” was the cry every five seconds or so from the punters. It was clear whose side they were on. Dettori blew one lucky lady a kiss.

The rest, as they say, went like a dream. From a clean break, Dettori kept Lezoo in behind the leaders.

Gosden and Dettori split after a tense week following a public spat at Royal Ascot

As the field came into the final two furlongs he moved Lezoo to second and soon cruised into the lead.

He might have been on the best horse but this was vintage Dettori, winning when it mattered.

Lezoo was punted off the boards and as the pair came back into the winners’ enclosure, Dettori was fighting back the emotions. Suddenly a run-of-the-mill  race meant the world. Never have I heard a cheer like it at the July Course.

Of course what came next was what the crowd had waited for, the trademark flying dismount.

It was a far from perfect landing, but it’s been a turbulent week after all.

He said: “That reception was very special . . .   I’ve got great fans.”

‘What a way to come back,’ quipped one reporter.

“I’ve not been anywhere!,” fired back Dettori. “But I’m really touched by that, it was something else.”

This was the Dettori we know. Off script and loving life in the winners’ enclosure. The place he has made his own over a 35-year career at the top level.

After posing for the usual photographs and a few more cheers, that was it for Dettori and he zoomed off.

Gosden, 71, arrived at the racecourse soon after his former jockey disappeared.

No doubt he had seen the previous race and the joyous celebrations.

Maybe he watched through gritted teeth, but he was far from hiding and ready to play the pantomime villain and take the flak.

Dressed in a bright white suit jacket and panama, he hardly came in camouflage.

With wife Rachel Hood at his side, Gosden seemed in a good mood, laughing and joking with his  owners.

As a gaggle of reporters approached him he knew what was coming.

“I’ve got nothing to say, come on chaps” he laughed.

Gosden might have been chuckling, but Dettori certainly had the last laugh.