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The journey has been a thrilling, glorious and at times rocky path, but this time, it seems Frankie Dettori's mind is made up. The most storied rider over the last 40 years is set to head into retirement after the main card during the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar on Saturday, when he will have three chances to secure one last top-tier victory to nearly 300 already in his record. The sport might not witness a career like his ever again.

A Household Name

Alongside Lester Piggott and perhaps John McCririck over the past 50 years, “Frankie” is recognized by pretty much everyone, 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 social media and online networks, Dettori may well be the last racing figure who 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 a time when A Question Of Sport regularly pulled in more than 10 million audience members, and a three-year stint as a team leader was sufficient to cement him as the bubbly, irrepressible face of racing. His final year on the program came in 2004, which was also the time when he won the top jockey award for a third and final time. For many in the UK, however, he has probably been the champion for many seasons since.

A Hard-Earned Fame

It is, in many respects, a hard-earned fame, a double-edged reward for incidents both on and off the track that have repeatedly pushed Dettori onto the front pages, since the unforgettable afternoon at Ascot in 1996 when he defied odds of 25,000-1 to win all seven races on the card.

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

While everyone admires a winner, they often love an imperfect hero and a comeback even more. A six-month ban after a failed drug test for cocaine would have been the finish for most jockeys in their 40s, more than enough time for owners and trainers to seek a younger replacement. For Dettori, however, suspension in December 2012 served as 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.

Ups and Downs

The celebrated successes and setbacks were an essential part of Dettori’s story, right up until the embarrassing confession this past March that he was filing for bankruptcy after a prolonged dispute with tax authorities regarding unpaid taxes, a circumstance that he attempted, and did not succeed, to keep private.

There were numerous turns to the tale, indeed, that it's easy to overlook that without Dettori’s immense, generational talent, there would have been no story at all.

Natural Ability

It was clear from his earliest days as a teenage apprentice that he had a natural connection between horse and rider whenever Dettori was on board.

Horses ran for him, and improved for him. Back in 1990, he was the first teenager since Piggott to achieve 100 wins in one season, and also marked his arrival among the elite with a Group One double at Ascot, on the same card that he would charge through unbeaten only six years later. His iconic flying dismount, adopted from the American legend Angel Cordero Jr, was incorporated into his routine in 1994, and the thrill from winning major races has never left him. Neither has the talent of sensing, with something akin to clairvoyance, where to sit, when to make a move and where openings will emerge.

The Future Ahead

But what now for the recognizable figure of UK horse racing? It won't be simple to step away completely, regardless if Dettori fulfils his apparent desire to accept some mounts in South America, something that he always wanted to do”. It is not, in fact, an ambition that he had 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 relax and take things easy.

Fresh Ventures

He has been confirmed in a new role as a “global ambassador” with the soccer agent Kia Joorabchian’s growing Amo Racing operation. Dettori told Matt Chapman on At The Races last Friday this was the main reason for his departure now, along with the chance to finish 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 personally, was effusive in his compliments for his new recruit at Del Mar on Thursday. “He is an icon, he is a true legend of the sport,” Joorabchian said. “When you talk about great sportsmen like LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Messis and Pelés and people like that, Frankie represents that to horse racing. When you go into Royal Ascot, you notice a statue, you know that he’s made a big impact on so many lives across the world.

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

Reality TV is another possibility, although earlier outings on Celebrity Big Brother and I'm A Celebrity often showed a more somber aspect of his personality, behind the ebullient public persona. In both programs, he was an early casualty of the public vote.

It may be that Dettori personally 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 24 hours at least, he stays an elite professional jockey, focused 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 last top-level ride in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, the identical event where he achieved 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 risen to an occasion like Frankie Dettori.

For one final time, cue Frankie?