Frankie Dettori safe from LA wildfires but describes devastation as ‘absolutely terrifying’
FRANKIE DETTORI has described scenes of devastation near his home in Los Angeles as a result of the wildfires.
The legendary jockey is based in Pasadena, which is just a few miles from the destructive Eaton Fire which completely destroyed several neighbourhoods.
The flames in the mountains that overlook Santa Anita racecourse were visible from the track, and racing and training had to be postponed because of thick smoke in the area.
Fortunately for Frankie, who moved to California in the winter of 2023, there is a freeway between the fires and his apartment, so his home was never in danger.
He said: “The day before the fires started I had a few days off so we went to Las Vegas, and then the winds kicked off and the fires started.
“We’ve been watching on the news and got back on Thursday and there is just devastation everywhere, you can see it nearby and when you’re coming into the airport, so many homes have been burnt down.
“We consider ourselves very lucky as we are on the south side of the freeway so the fire never reached us.
“I’m just so sorry for the people that have lost their homes, it must have been absolutely terrifying to go through.”
Dozens of celebs, including Paris Hilton and John Goodman, have lost their homes over the past few days.
Among them is jockey Mario Gutierrez, who has won the Kentucky Derby twice, who had to flee when his house caught fire.
Saturday and Sunday’s big cards, where Frankie was due to take several big rides, were called off because the still-burning LA wildfires had affected the air quality.
Dettori added: “Trainers and staff were obviously very concerned about the fires but I don’t think Santa Anita was ever in real danger.
“They had to cancel training the other day and the air quality isn’t going to be good enough to get racing on this weekend.
“Once we get racing again hopefully it will help take peoples minds off things.”
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