Catherine (Dettori)

As the old saying goes 'behind every great man, is a great woman!'

Catherine Dettori, married to Frankie for over twenty-five years, mother of his five children, keeps a low profile. Look for her on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and you will draw a blank. Respectful of this deliberate policy, Frankie, in his autobiography, Leap of Faith, published by HarperCollins, mentions her only occasionally. When he does, it’s important.

Riding at Haydock, the then hard-partying Frankie had noticed a stable lass, aged about eighteen. ‘Stay away, she’s too good for you’, he was told. ‘She was beautiful’ remembers Frankie, ‘but there was much more …’

‘Allo darling, where have you been hiding, what’s your name?'

There must have been more charm in this mock-cocky chat up than is revealed by the bare words. By the time the horse had been led out he had been given a telephone number. Naturally, he had no pen. ‘You won’t remember it’, said Catherine. Minutes later, having come third, he did. Frankie weighed out in a hurry, desperate for a piece of paper.

In his book, Dettori never mentions how much he loves his family. Instead, he just makes it obvious. On the night of his first Derby win the whole of Newmarket was bought a drink. Late at night, with an appointment in Chantilly the next morning, Frankie was to be found, arranging his gear obsessively neatly on the bed.

He remembers a happy Catherine laughing hysterically at his particularities. The next day Frankie added the French Derby to his resume.

Half a decade later Frankie was depressed and thinking of retirement. He had left Godolphin after eighteen years, and had been banned for six months for cocaine-use. He was in his early forties. Suddenly there were no rides. It was a comment from Catherine that gave him focus.

'You keep telling us how ... good you are. Well, now would be a good time to show it!'

Her choice of words, and Frankie’s choice to share them with us, indicate the poignancy of the domestic moment. Frankie stopped feeling sorry for himself and a few weeks later became stable jockey for Al Shaqab Racing. Career number two had begun.

That career is due to end in just over four months. It isn’t as though Catherine will suddenly find her man under her feet - there will be media appointments and hospitality appearances - but she may find him snoring in bed for an hour or two longer in the morning, and it will be fascinating (for her and us) to discover exactly how much more of the food-loving Frankie there will be by Christmas.

There is one other thing. Frankie is scared of retiring. He has called it ‘a death’. He is not out of form, just the contrary. When push comes to autumn there may be a temptation for the best laid plans to go astray. Why not another few months?

By Paul St John