Dettori and racing legends prepare for racing comeback at Doncaster's 250th Leger Festival
A star-studded cast, including six-time St Leger winner Frankie Dettori, is preparing to come out of retirement at Doncaster’s Town Moor to compete in the only British charity race for ex-professional jockeys.
The day before the 250th anniversary running of the Classic St Leger on September 12, the annual Leger Legends Stakes is being staged to raise as much money as possible for the Injured Jockeys Fund’s Jack Berry House rehabilitation centre in Malton.
The Italian three times Champion jockey, who won the St Leger for a sixth time in 2019 on the John Gosden-trained Logician, is understood to have moved to Bawtry, near Doncaster, partly to be closer to family.
He is said to be determined to ride in the race despite having sustained several fractured ribs and a thumb in a car crash last month.
“Frankie is looking forward to it,” said North Yorkshire-based former jumps jockey Andrew Thornton, who is among a committee of ten who organise the race, in which he was placed second for Les Eyre in 2018.
Andrew added: "Like all the jockeys he must jump through hoops to do the medicals, the fitness side of things. Obviously he had that car crash a couple of months ago so he hasn’t had it easy.
"A lot of work goes into the race, but hopefully it is going to be special for the 250th year. Come what may, Frankie is going to be there all four days.
“He’s iconic in racing. I remember the Magnificent Seven when I was riding. To go through a card like that at Ascot pushed him beyond the back pages. I’m sure the public will love seeing him there and with a bit of luck will ride in the race as well, adding an extra dimension to it.
“As people know, this event is all about raising money and primarily for Jack Berry House and the IJF. To get Frankie on board helps the race and it helps Doncaster, especially when it is the 250th year of the St Leger.
“The St Leger was a lucky race for Frankie, he won it several times and now he is living locally as well.”
Andrew said Frankie Dettori’s comeback was far from the only story of the race with the riders also including Union J singer Jamie Hamblett returning to the sport in which he bagged dozens of winners before succeeding on X Factor. Andrew said: “The amount of followers he has got might just take racing to a bit of a new audience.”
Meanwhile, it’s 40 years since underdog racehorse Sprowston Boy won the Queen Alexandra Stakes at Royal Ascot, making Gay Kelleway the first woman jockey to win at the prestigious festival. Andrew said: “The anniversary is the reason Gay’s wanting to have one final crack at the tender age of 60. She has her own personal trainer and has always been one for a challenge!
"To have Joe Fanning fit and well enough to ride in it is fantastic. He’s very understated and has been through the mill with cancer treatments and is back firing on all cylinders. When I asked him to ride in it he said ‘of course I will! There wasn’t even an if or a but or let me think about it. We’ve also got Jimmy Quinn, Franny Norton, Adam Kirby – people who rode thousands of winners between them – then you add Tom Scudamore, Joe Fanning, there’s a lot of winners lining up. Richard Patrick, who has just retired, and Adrian Nicholls. There could be 18,000 winners between all the jockeys."
Last year’s renewal produced a highly memorable moment when Shazani, ridden by Gary Bardwell, won at odds of 40-1. “Gary, who has ridden in the race now about 14 times since retiring is looking for a third win”, said Andrew. “We’ve got Meg Nicholls from ITV, Jenny Powell – Brendan senior’s daughter and sister of junior – and Sammy-Jo Bell is back to try to win it for a fourth time.”
Asked why this year’s edition of the charity race had attracted such a star-studded line-up, Andrew, who retired in 2018 after a 28-year racing career, said some of the jockeys may have been attracted by the chance to renew their rivalry with Frankie Dettori. He said: "It may be down to a few more having retired. You want a good spread of jockeys in the race, but we try and get a good smattering of Yorkshire jockeys like Sammy-Jo Bell and Adrian Nicholls.
"All the riders know how valuable the IJF is and that’s the key reason they are coming out of retirement to ride in it. Jack Berry House is an incredible place, named after an incredible man and the jockeys know and appreciate what everybody does there to get them back fit. It’s a great community as well for retired jockeys who are regularly seen there on a Monday morning for coffee. It’s invaluable to the retired jockeys and their wives, for whom the door is always open.”