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The journey has been an exhilarating, magnificent and sometimes rocky path, yet now, it seems Frankie Dettori's decision is final. The most storied jockey of the past 40 years will effectively head into retirement after the main card at the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar this Saturday, when he will have three opportunities to secure one last top-tier victory to nearly 300 on his record already. The sport might not see a career quite like it again.

A Household Name

Alongside Lester Piggott and perhaps John McCririck over the past half-century, Frankie Dettori is recognized by almost everybody, no surname required. The public knows who he is, even if they have absolutely no interest in what he does. In today's world which has become fragmented by digital platforms and the internet, Dettori may well be the last racing figure who will ever experience such immediate name-recognition across a broad swathe of Britain's people.

His entire career in horse racing, after all, dates back to an era when the show A Question Of Sport regularly pulled in over 10 million viewers, and a three-year stint as a team leader was more than enough to cement him as the lively, unforgettable figure of racing. His final year on the show was 2004, which was also the time when he won the Flat jockeys’ title for the third and last occasion. As far as much of the British public, however, he has likely been the top jockey for many seasons after that.

A Hard-Won Celebrity

This is, in many respects, a hard-earned fame, a double-edged reward for incidents both on and off the racecourse which have often propelled Dettori onto the front pages, ever since that memorable day at Ascot in 1996 when he overcame massive 25,000-1 odds to win all seven races on the card.

Back in June 2000, he was pulled from a fiery crash of a light aircraft by fellow jockey, Ray Cochrane, following an accident on takeoff where the pilot lost his life. When at last ended his quest for a Derby victory in 2007, that too was headline news.

And if everyone loves a champion, they often love an imperfect hero and a return all the more. A half-year suspension after a failed drug test for cocaine would have been the end of most jockeys in their 40s, plenty of time for owners and trainers to seek a younger replacement. For Dettori, however, his 2012 suspension was a bridge to a revived partnership with John Gosden at Newmarket, and a new series of champions and classic victors, such as Enable, Golden Horn and Stradivarius.

Ups and Downs

The celebrated successes and setbacks were a crucial element of Dettori’s story, right up until the embarrassing confession in March that he was filing for bankruptcy after a prolonged dispute with HMRC over unpaid taxes, a situation that he attempted, and did not succeed, to keep private.

There have been numerous turns in his story, in fact, that it can be easy to forget that without Dettori’s immense, once-in-a-generation skill, there would have been no story at all.

Natural Ability

It was evident from the start as a young apprentice that he had a natural connection between horse and rider when Dettori was on board.

Horses ran for him, and improved for him. Back in 1990, he became the first teen since Lester Piggott to reach 100 winners in one season, and also marked his emergence among the elite with two Group One wins at Ascot, on the same card that he would dominate through unbeaten only six years later. His iconic flying dismount, copied from the US legend Angel Cordero Jr, was added to Dettori’s repertoire in 1994, and the buzz from riding a big-race winner has always stayed with him. Neither has the talent of sensing, with almost foresight, where to sit, when to strike and where the gaps will appear.

What Comes Next?

But what next for the recognizable figure of UK horse racing? It won't be simple to step away completely, regardless if Dettori pursues his apparent desire to accept some mounts in South America, something that I’ve always wanted to experience”. It is not, in fact, an ambition that he has mentioned until now.

But the calamitous decision to accept the tax advice that led to his dispute with HMRC indicates that he will not draw down the curtain with sufficient funds in the bank to relax and take things easy.

Fresh Ventures

He has been appointed to a new position as a “global ambassador” with the football super-agent Kia Joorabchian’s burgeoning Amo Racing enterprise. He explained to racing presenter Matt Chapman last Friday this was the main reason for his departure now, along with the chance to conclude at the Breeders’ Cup. “Such chances don’t come along, very often. I like the set-up – this is a young team with big ambitions,” explained the jockey.

Joorabchian, himself, was gushing in his praise for his new recruit at Del Mar on Thursday. “He’s an icon, a genuine legend of the sport,” Joorabchian said. “When you talk about elite athletes like LeBron James, Currys, Lionel Messi and Pelés and people like that, Frankie represents that to horse racing. When visiting Royal Ascot, you notice a statue, you know that he’s made a big impact on so many lives worldwide.

“He’s not here|“He isn't here} to entertain people, he's here to work and he will be collaborate with us very closely. He will be involved in all aspects of our operations [but] he won’t be a racing manager. He is an international ambassador.”

Reality TV is another possibility, although earlier outings on Big Brother and I’m A Celebrity … often showed a moodier side of his personality, behind the ebullient public persona. In both programs, he was an early exit of the public vote.

It's possible that Dettori himself does not really know what he will do and how to spend his time after his race-riding days are over. And for at least one more day, he stays an elite professional jockey, focused on three rides at one of the most prestigious and glamorous events on the schedule.

The Final Ride

A five-year-old filly named Argine will be his final Grade One mount in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, the identical event in which he registered his initial Breeders’ Cup win in 1994. Her performance in Japan in Japan suggests that she needs to find to figure, yet few jockeys in history have ever excelled in big moments like Frankie Dettori.

For one final time, cue Frankie?