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It has been a thrilling, magnificent and at times rocky path, yet now, it appears Frankie Dettori's decision is final. The most storied rider over the last four decades will effectively head into retirement following the primary events during the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar this Saturday, when he will have three chances to add a farewell Grade One winner to nearly 300 already in his record. Racing may not see a career quite like it again.

A Household Name

Alongside racing great Lester Piggott and perhaps John McCririck in the last 50 years, Frankie Dettori is recognized by pretty much everyone, no surname required. People know who he is, even if they have no interest at all in what he does. In today's world that has been divided by social media and the internet, Dettori may well be the last racing figure that will ever experience such immediate name-recognition across a broad swathe of the British population.

Dettori’s lifetime in the sport, after all, goes back to an era when A Question Of Sport often attracted over 10 million viewers, and his three-year role as a team leader was more than enough to cement him as the lively, irrepressible face of the sport. His last year on the program was 2004, that was also the time when he won the Flat jockeys’ title for a third and final time. As far as many in the UK, though, he has probably been the top jockey in most years since.

A Hard-Earned Fame

It is, in many ways, a hard-won celebrity, a double-edged reward for incidents on and off the racecourse that have repeatedly propelled Dettori into the headlines, since that memorable day at Ascot in 1996 when he defied odds of 25,000-1 to ride all seven winners on the card.

In June 2000, he was pulled from the burning wreckage of a light aircraft by his fellow rider, Ray Cochrane, following an accident during takeoff in which the plane’s pilot lost his life. When he finally concluded his pursuit for a Derby winner in 2007, that also became headline news.

While everyone admires a winner, they frequently adore a flawed hero and a comeback even more. A half-year suspension after a failed drug test for cocaine could have been the end of most jockeys in their 40s, more than enough time for owners and trainers to seek a younger replacement. For Dettori, though, his 2012 suspension was a bridge to a renewed association with John Gosden in Newmarket, and a new series of winners and classic victors, including Enable, Golden Horn and Stradivarius.

Public Highs and Lows

The public highs and setbacks were a crucial element of his narrative, up to and including the humiliating admission this past March that he filed for bankruptcy following a long-standing disagreement with tax authorities regarding unpaid taxes, a situation that Dettori tried, and did not succeed, to keep confidential.

There have been numerous turns in his story, indeed, that it's easy to forget that without Dettori’s immense, once-in-a-generation skill, there would have been no narrative whatsoever.

Natural Ability

It was clear from his earliest days as a teenage apprentice that he had an instinctive rapport with the horses whenever Dettori was in the saddle.

Steeds performed for him, and improved for him. Back in 1990, he became the first teen since Lester Piggott to reach 100 winners in a season, and also marked his emergence at the highest level with a Group One double at Ascot, on the same day that he would charge through unbeaten just six years later. The famous flying dismount, adopted from the US legend Angel Cordero Jr, was added to his routine in 1994, and the thrill from winning major races has always stayed with him. Neither has the talent of knowing, with something akin to foresight, where to position, when to strike and where the gaps will emerge.

The Future Ahead

But what next for the public face of British racing? It won't be simple to finally let go, whether or not Dettori fulfils his apparent desire to accept some mounts in South America, something that I’ve always wanted to do”. This is not, in fact, an ambition that he has mentioned until now.

But the calamitous decision to follow tax guidance that resulted in his tax issues indicates that Dettori will not end his career with enough money saved up to relax and take things easy.

New Role and Opportunities

He has been confirmed in a new role as an international ambassador with the football super-agent Kia Joorabchian’s burgeoning Amo Racing operation. Dettori told racing presenter Matt Chapman on Friday this was the primary reason for his departure now, along with the chance to conclude at the Breeders’ Cup. “Such chances are rare, very often. I like the set-up – this is a young team with big ambitions,” said the rider.

Joorabchian, himself, was gushing in his praise for his new ambassador at Del Mar on Thursday. “He’s an icon, a genuine legend of the sport,” Joorabchian said. “When you talk about great sportsmen like LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Lionel Messi and Pelé and people like that, Frankie is that to horse racing. When visiting Royal Ascot, you notice a statue, you realize that he has influenced on so many lives worldwide.

“He’s not here|“He isn't here} to entertain people, he’s here to actually work and he will working with us closely. He will participate in all aspects of our business though he won't serve as a racing manager. He is a global ambassador.”

Reality TV are another option, although earlier outings on Big Brother and I'm A Celebrity often showed a more somber aspect to Dettori’s character, behind the ebullient public persona. In both programs, he was an early exit of the public vote.

It may be that Dettori himself does not really know what he'll do and how to spend his time after his riding career are over. And for another one more day, he stays a top-level professional jockey, concentrating on three mounts 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 his final Grade One mount in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, the same race in which he registered his first Breeders’ Cup success back in 1994. Her performance in Japan in Japan suggests that she has something to find to figure, yet few jockeys historically have excelled in big moments like Frankie Dettori.

One last time, is it time for Frankie?