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It has been a thrilling, magnificent and at times bumpy ride, yet now, it appears the famed jockey's mind is made up. The most storied rider over the last four decades will effectively enter retirement after the main card during the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar this Saturday, when he will have three opportunities to add a farewell top-tier victory to nearly 300 on his record already. The sport might not see a career quite like it again.

An Iconic Figure

Alongside racing great Lester Piggott and perhaps John McCririck over the past 50 years, Frankie Dettori is recognized by pretty much everyone, without needing a last name. The public knows his identity, even if they possess absolutely no interest in his profession. In today's world that has been fragmented by social media and the internet, Dettori may well be the final equestrian personality who will ever experience such immediate brand recognition among a wide segment of Britain's people.

Dettori’s lifetime in horse racing, after all, goes back to an era when the show A Question Of Sport often attracted over 10 million viewers, and his three-year role as a team leader was sufficient to cement him as the lively, irrepressible face of the sport. His final year on the show came in 2004, that was also the time when he secured the Flat jockeys’ title for the third and final time. For much of the British public, though, he has probably been the champion for many seasons since.

A Hard-Won Celebrity

This is, in many respects, a hard-won celebrity, a mixed blessing for incidents both on and off the track that have repeatedly propelled Dettori into the headlines, since the unforgettable afternoon at Ascot in 1996 when he overcame odds of 25,000-1 to ride all seven winners that day.

Back in June 2000, he was pulled from the burning wreckage of a small plane by his fellow rider, Ray Cochrane, following an accident on takeoff where the pilot lost his life. When he finally ended his quest for a Derby victory in 2007, that also became headline news.

And if everyone loves a champion, they often love a flawed hero and a return even more. A half-year suspension following a positive drug test for cocaine could have been the end of many riders in their forties, plenty of time for owners and trainers to seek a younger replacement. For Dettori, however, his 2012 suspension served as a bridge to a renewed association with trainer John Gosden at Newmarket, and a fresh succession of winners and Classic winners, such as Enable, Golden Horn and Stradivarius.

Public Highs and Lows

The public highs and lows have been an essential part of Dettori’s story, up to and including the humiliating admission in March that he was filing for bankruptcy following a long-standing disagreement with tax authorities regarding unpaid taxes, a situation that he attempted, and did not succeed, to keep confidential.

There were so many twists 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.

Early Talent and Instincts

It was clear from his earliest days as a teenage apprentice that there was a natural connection with the horses when Dettori was on board.

Steeds performed for him, and improved for him. In 1990, he became the first teen since Lester Piggott to achieve 100 wins in a season, and also announced his arrival at the highest level with a Group One double at Ascot, on the same day that he would charge without a loss just six years later. The famous flying dismount, copied from the American legend Angel Cordero Jr, was added to his routine in 1994, and the buzz from riding a big-race winner has never left 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 will not be easy to finally let go, whether or not Dettori fulfils his apparent desire to take “a few rides in South America, which is something I’ve always wanted to experience”. This is not, in fact, a goal that he had mentioned until now.

However, the disastrous choice to accept the tax advice that resulted in his tax issues means that Dettori will not draw down the curtain with sufficient funds saved up to kick back and take things easy.

Fresh Ventures

He has already been confirmed in a new role as a “global ambassador” with the soccer agent Kia Joorabchian’s growing Amo Racing enterprise. Dettori told racing presenter Matt Chapman last Friday this was the main reason for his exit now, as well as being able to finish at the Breeders’ Cup. “These opportunities are rare, very often. I appreciate the structure – it's a youthful team with big ambitions,” said the rider.

Joorabchian personally, was gushing in his praise for his new ambassador at Del Mar on Thursday. “He is an icon, he is a true legend of the sport,” he stated. “When you talk about elite athletes like LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Lionel Messi and Pelé and people like that, Frankie represents that to horse racing. When you go into Royal Ascot, you see a statue there, you know that he’s made a big impact countless lives across the world.

“He’s not here|“He isn't here} to amuse audiences, he's here to work and he will be working with us closely. He will participate in all aspects 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 Big Brother and I’m A Celebrity … have tended to reveal a more somber aspect to Dettori’s character, beneath the cheerful public image. In both programs, he was an early exit of the public vote.

It's possible that Dettori personally does not really know what he'll do and how to spend his time once his riding career are over. And for another one more day, he stays a top-level professional jockey, focused on three rides at one of the globe's prestigious and dazzling events on the schedule.

One Last Mount

A five-year-old filly called Argine will be Dettori’s last top-level ride in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, the same race where he achieved his initial Breeders’ Cup win back in 1994. Her performance in Japan indicates 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, is it time for Frankie?