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It has been an exhilarating, glorious and sometimes rocky path, yet now, it seems the famed jockey's mind is made up. The most celebrated jockey over the last four decades will effectively head into retirement after the main card during the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar this Saturday, where he has three opportunities to secure one last Grade One winner to his almost 300 already in his record. The sport might not see a career like his ever again.

A Household Name

Alongside Lester Piggott and perhaps John McCririck over the past half-century, Frankie Dettori registers with pretty much everyone, no surname required. The public knows who he is, even if they have no interest at all in what he does. In a world that has been 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 Britain's people.

Dettori’s lifetime in the sport, in fact, goes back to an era when A Question Of Sport often attracted more than 10 million audience members, and his three-year role as a team captain was more than enough to establish him as the bubbly, irrepressible face of the sport. His last year on the show was 2004, which was also the year when he secured the top jockey award for a third and final time. As far as many in the UK, however, he has likely been the top jockey for many seasons after that.

A Hard-Won Celebrity

It is, in many respects, a hard-won celebrity, a double-edged reward for incidents on and off the racecourse that have repeatedly pushed Dettori into the headlines, ever since the unforgettable afternoon at Ascot in 1996 when he defied odds of 25,000-1 to win all seven races that day.

In June 2000, he was pulled from the burning wreckage of a small plane by his fellow rider, Ray Cochrane, following an accident during takeoff in which the plane’s pilot was killed. When he finally ended his quest for a Derby winner in 2007, that also became front-page news.

While everyone admires a winner, they often love an imperfect hero and a return all the more. A six-month ban following a positive drug test for cocaine could have been the end of many riders in their forties, more than enough time for owners and trainers to find a younger alternative. For Dettori, however, suspension in December 2012 served as a bridge to a revived partnership with John Gosden at Newmarket, and a new series of champions and classic victors, such as Enable, Golden Horn and Stradivarius.

Ups and Downs

The public highs and lows were a crucial element of his narrative, 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 circumstance that Dettori tried, and did not succeed, to keep private.

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

Natural Ability

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

Horses ran for him, and got better under him. Back in 1990, he was the first teenager since Lester Piggott to reach 100 winners in one season, and also marked 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 US legend Angel Cordero Jr, was incorporated into his routine in 1994, and the buzz from riding a big-race winner has always stayed with him. Nor has the gift of sensing, with almost clairvoyance, where to sit, when to make a move and where the gaps will appear.

What Comes Next?

But what next for the public face of UK horse racing? It won't be simple to step away completely, regardless if Dettori pursues his apparent desire to take “a few rides in South America, which is something he always wanted to experience”. This is not, in fact, a goal that he had mentioned previously.

But the calamitous decision to follow tax guidance that resulted in his tax issues indicates that he will not draw down the curtain with sufficient funds in the bank to kick back and take it easy.

New Role and Opportunities

He has already been appointed to a new position as an international ambassador with the soccer agent Kia Joorabchian's burgeoning Amo Racing operation. Dettori told Matt Chapman on At The Races on Friday this was the main reason for his exit now, along with the chance to finish at the Breeders’ Cup. “These opportunities don’t come along, very often. I like the set-up – it's a youthful team with big ambitions,” explained the jockey.

Joorabchian, himself, was effusive in his compliments for his new recruit on Thursday at Del Mar. “He is an icon, he is a true legend in the sport,” Joorabchian said. “When discussing elite athletes such as 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 has influenced countless lives worldwide.

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

Television reality shows are another option, though previous appearances on Celebrity 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 is unsure what he'll do and how to spend his time after his race-riding days ends. And for at least one more day, he remains a top-level professional jockey, focused on three rides at one of the most prestigious and glamorous events in the calendar.

The Final Ride

A five-year-old filly named Argine will be his last top-level ride in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, the identical event where he achieved his initial Breeders’ Cup win in 1994. Her form at home indicates that she has something to find to figure, yet few jockeys historically have risen to an occasion like Lanfranco Dettori.

One last time, is it time for Frankie?