Frankie Dettori snubbed over Melbourne Cup ride with jockey’s dream of winning big race hanging by a thread
FRANKIE DETTORI’S dream of winning a Melbourne Cup before he retires is hanging by a thread after he was snubbed for one of the key rides.
Spanish Mission finished third in the race in 2021 when ridden by Craig Williams and Dettori looked set to claim the hot seat.
The legendary rider has been headed towards the line, however, with Aussie native Blake Shinn taking over in the saddle.
Connections can hardly be blamed, as Shinn won the 2008 Melbourne Cup on Viewed for Bart Cummings.
That accolade is missing on Dettori’s CV and he’s made a right mess of some of his chances to win ‘the race that stops a nation’.
In 2016, Dettori caused carnage aboard the Willie Mullins-trained Max Mayhem.
While trying to get a clean passage, Dettori caused a chain reaction by bumping into a rival, with the stewards slamming him with a one-month ban as a consequence.
His woes continued in 2019 when he was banned for nine meetings after Master Of Reality wandered around late on, causing multiple horses to be hampered.
With all that in mind, it’s no real surprise that the Aussie trainers are sceptical of putting Dettori up top.
His chance of getting a Melbourne Cup ride now looks slim, with only a handful of horses left that he could make the weight on.
Dettori announced a shock u-turn last week by cancelling his retirement plans.
He’ll head out to the US following Champions’ Day at Ascot, where he’ll be based for the foreseeable future.
That has fuelled speculation of him returning to Britain next year, with Royal Ascot typically targeted by US trainers.
Dettori has ridden many of Wesley Ward’s top sprinters at the meeting and that could be the case again, while US juggernaut Bob Baffert has already announced his intention to us Dettori.
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