Dettori to go freelance

I can't imagine Joseph continuing beyond next month as a flat jockey, so there should be opportunities.
 
If Coolmore take the guy on, then I'd see this whole thing as a positive for Godolphin, as they can now focus on Barzelona, a young jockey who has potential, as opposed to Coolmore who will be taking on a jockey way past his best, way overrated, and probably half the jockey that Ryan Moore is, and he is actually the man they should be trying to secure if they seriously want to be the major player in the flat again. The only positive I can see as a spectator will be seeing Dettori on Coolmore horses, and thus whether his riding has deteriorated as bad as I think it has. But if I was in Coolmore thats a chance I wouldn't take.
 
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Marble said:
If Coolmore take the guy on, then I'd see this whole thing as a positive for Godolphin, as they can now focus on Barzelona, a young jockey who has potential, as opposed to Coolmore who will be taking on a jockey way past his best, way overrated, and probably half the jockey that Ryan Moore is, and he is actually the man they should be trying to secure if they seriously want to be the major player in the flat again. The only positive I can see as a spectator will be seeing Dettori on Coolmore horses, and thus whether his riding has deteriorated as bad as I think it has. But if I was in Coolmore thats a chance I wouldn't take.
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I wonder whether Ryan Moore thinks he is twice the jock Frankie is...... Godolphin will only get better by buying better stock, not getting rid of the one champion they have; for all that he is getting on a bit...
 
I just feel jockeys like him are a victim of the times really Aragorn, in that I think the level of jockeyship has got higher with the likes of Moore, Buick, Hughes, Hanagan etc in their prime. He's had just 50 winners this year, a strike rate of 13 percent, his lowest since the records go back on the RP database. He was 10-15 years ago the level of jockey that Moore is now, but I dislike it when people get nostalgic and sentimental about things like this and decide to go on and on and on riding when their past it.
 
When it matters he is still as good as any of them. Peslier and Mosse are two other examples who've been round just as long and still winning on the big stage.

Personally I think a few of those you name still have it to do on the big stage to be mentioned in the same breath as Dettori.
 
Yes, a big race jockey he certainly was, and perhaps you may think as some do that being retained by Coolmore will give him the opportunity to show this.

However, I judge a jockey not just by the odd group one, but the bread and butter stuff, as if they can't do that properly (And I've seen plenty of cases where Frankie struggles with this) then that indicates to me they are always relying on that bit of luck in the big races, as he seemed to get when winning the Ascot Gold Cup this year when nearly losing the race in the stewards room due to his riding in the final furlong.

I have to say I'd be more than happy to be proved wrong though, so I will watch developments with interest.
 
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There is no way Dettori will be retained by Coolmore, and there is no way Dettori will want to spin his way round Ballinrobe and Bellewstwown. It won't happen.
 
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Marble said:
Yes, a big race jockey he certainly was, and perhaps you may think as some do that being retained by Coolmore will give him the opportunity to show this.

However, I judge a jockey not just by the odd group one, but the bread and butter stuff, as if they can't do that properly (And I've seen plenty of cases where Frankie struggles with this) then that indicates to me they are always relying on that bit of luck in the big races, as he seemed to get when winning the Ascot Gold Cup this year when nearly losing the race in the stewards room due to his riding in the final furlong.

I have to say I'd be more than happy to be proved wrong though, so I will watch developments with interest.
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Nothing lucky about his Woodbine International win the other week; he rode the other jocks to sleep, judged the pace perfectly and had enough left to hold off Dandino's late rally.
 
Marble said:
Yes, a big race jockey he certainly was, and perhaps you may think as some do that being retained by Coolmore will give him the opportunity to show this.
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Marble, I've never mentioned Coolmore. It won't happen, you've just made it up. I was just defending Dettori as you were way off the mark with your comments IMHO. I can fully understand Godolphins decision though.
 
I think Dettori is a great big race jockey but when it comes to every day racing, he has been spoilt for so long, he can't be bothered to give a horse a decent ride. That has more to do with the fact that hes only had 50 winners this year. He loves the limelight and more and more trainers have wised up to the fact he aint going to bother on a lesser light. There isn't the hunger in his belly still - he doesn't need it - hes got it all elsewhere - the celebrity, the restaurants, the property, the money - why bother to scrub a 60-rated horse round Windsor?
 
Fair enough Aragorn, I think the mention of how many times he'd ride for Ballydoyle set me off.

Jinny sums it up perfectly.
 
Am I the only one who thinks this is not making any sense?

A lot has been made about the "fact" that Dettori is not hungry anymore for weekday racing and minor meetings, but what's the point in those kind of races for Godolphin anyway?
They've already got S. de S. and a young jockey who needs experience for those races.
Godolphin is , or should be anyway, about compiting at the top level internationaly and make stallion prospects and there is not many better jockeys for that job than a confident and motivated Dettori.
 
Well, I just sensed this year that the four classics have masked over the fact that Coolmore hasn't had the talent that they're so used to having. The two fillied classics were won by fillies who havn't kept their form and Camelot has been exposed.

Right now, for arguments sake, I'd say Khalid Abdullah is the major player in the flat game for obvious reasons. He has the quality of a Frankel both on the racecourse and now at stud, but clearly not the quantity of Aidan O Briens 2012 Oaks declarations!
 
Sheikh said:
Yes, he has to be the man for Coolmore.

Moore would be a disaster for an organisation that loves its marketting.
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They like their quiet jockeys though. Fallon and Murtagh never made a lot of noise.

Aidan does the "best I've ever trained" bullshit badly enough on his own without needing a midget to help him.
 
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