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The journey has been an exhilarating, glorious and sometimes rocky path, but this time, it seems Frankie Dettori's mind is made up. The most celebrated jockey over the last four decades is set to enter retirement after the main card at the Breeders’ Cup in Del Mar on Saturday, when he will have three chances to add a farewell Grade One winner to his almost 300 already in his record. The sport might not witness a career quite like it again.

An Iconic Figure

Together with Lester Piggott and maybe John McCririck over the past 50 years, “Frankie” is recognized by almost everybody, without needing a last name. The public knows his identity, even if they possess absolutely no interest in his profession. In a world that has been fragmented by social media and the internet, Dettori could be the last racing figure who will ever experience such immediate brand recognition among a wide segment of Britain's people.

His entire career in the sport, after all, goes back to a time when the show A Question Of Sport often attracted over 10 million audience members, and his three-year role as a team leader was sufficient to cement him as the bubbly, unforgettable figure of racing. His last year on the program was 2004, which was also the year when he secured the Flat jockeys’ title for a third and last occasion. For many in the UK, however, he has likely been the top jockey for many seasons after that.

A Hard-Won Celebrity

This is, in many ways, a hard-won celebrity, a mixed blessing for incidents on and off the track that have repeatedly propelled Dettori onto the front pages, since the unforgettable afternoon at Ascot in 1996 when he overcame odds of 25,000-1 to win all seven races that day.

In June 2000, he was pulled from the burning wreckage of a light aircraft by his fellow rider, Ray Cochrane, following an accident on takeoff in which the plane’s pilot lost his life. When at last ended his quest for a Derby victory in 2007, that also became front-page news.

While everyone admires a champion, they frequently adore a flawed hero and a comeback even more. A half-year suspension after a failed drug test for cocaine would have been the finish for many riders in their 40s, more than enough time for trainers and owners to find a younger alternative. For Dettori, however, his 2012 suspension was a bridge to a renewed association with trainer John Gosden at Newmarket, and a new series of champions and Classic winners, such as Enable, Golden Horn and Stradivarius.

Public Highs and Lows

The public highs and lows have been a crucial element of Dettori’s story, up to and including the humiliating admission this past March that he filed for bankruptcy after a prolonged dispute with HMRC over unpaid taxes, a situation that Dettori tried, and did not succeed, to keep private.

There have been numerous turns in his story, in fact, that it can be easy to overlook that absent Dettori’s immense, once-in-a-generation skill, there would have been no story at all.

Natural Ability

It was evident from his earliest days as a young apprentice that he had a natural connection between horse and rider when Dettori was in the saddle.

Steeds performed for him, and improved for him. In 1990, he became the first teen since Lester Piggott to reach 100 winners in a season, and also announced his emergence among the elite with a Group One double at Ascot, on the same day that he would charge through unbeaten only six years later. The famous flying dismount, copied from the American 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 clairvoyance, where to sit, when to strike and where openings will emerge.

The Future Ahead

But what next for the public face of UK horse racing? It won't be simple to finally let go, whether or not Dettori pursues his expressed wish to accept some mounts in South America, something that he always wanted to experience”. This is not, in fact, an ambition that he has mentioned previously.

But the calamitous decision to accept the tax advice that led to his tax issues means that Dettori will not draw down the curtain with enough money saved up to kick back 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 growing Amo Racing enterprise. He explained to racing presenter Matt Chapman on Friday this was the primary reason for his departure now, along with the chance to finish at the Breeders’ Cup. “Such chances are rare, very often. I appreciate the structure – it's a youthful team with huge goals,” explained the jockey.

Joorabchian, himself, was gushing in his praise for his new ambassador at Del Mar on Thursday. “He’s an icon, a genuine legend in the sport,” he stated. “When discussing great sportsmen like LeBron James, Currys, Messis and Pelé and people like that, Frankie is that to horse racing. When visiting Royal Ascot, you notice a statue, you realize 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 working with us very closely. He will participate in every area of our business though he won't serve as a racing manager. He is an international ambassador.”

Reality TV are another option, although earlier outings on Celebrity Big Brother and I'm A Celebrity often showed a more somber aspect of his personality, beneath the cheerful public image. In both programs, he was an early casualty due to viewer votes.

It may be that Dettori personally is unsure what he'll do and how to spend his time once his riding career ends. And for at least one more day, he remains an elite professional jockey, concentrating on three rides at one of the globe's prestigious and glamorous events in the calendar.

The Final Ride

A five-year-old filly named Argine will be Dettori’s final Grade One mount in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, the same race where he achieved his first Breeders’ Cup success in 1994. Her performance in Japan in Japan suggests that she has something to find to figure, yet few jockeys historically have risen to an occasion like Frankie Dettori.

One last time, cue Frankie?