That milestone was reached by the 30-year-old less than 15 years after he first emerged onto the racing stage when landing a race in Turin.

However, the Derby at Epsom remains the one gaping hole in Dettori's otherwise hugely impressive curriculum vitae.

It is a list that is topped by his unprecedented "Magnificent Seven" winners out of seven at Ascot in 1996.

Lester Piggott's record at Epsom includes nine successes in the Derby, as well as a trio of Arc de Triomphes during a career that started soon after the war, and is, kind of, still underway.

The pace may not now be as strong as it was during the glory days.

No-one can deny Piggott's achievements over the years

But, less than a week after he celebrates his 66th birthday next month, Piggott will be in Australia as one of four international retired riders taking part in a 'Legends' race in Melbourne.

Whether or not Frankie is in the same league, legend-wise, will keep the owners of pubs, where two or more racing fans gather together, in profits for many years to come. Consider some of the debating points:

Horsemanship

Both supreme, though the less said the better about the recent Queen Elizabeth II Stakes when Dettori and the other jockeys under-rated a pacemaker, and were all beaten by him.

However, a good example would be Sakhee, which was drawn in an apparently poor position on the outside, but his stylish rider always had total control of the race, and was able to stroll home to victory.

Lester, who never pretended to be any sort of stylist, was a genius.

He was more than capable of riding a horse from the front, but it was that swaggering, almost arrogant, beautifully-timed, thrilling swoop that became something of a trademark.

Old Stoneface has always kept to himself

Horses of all types responded to his urgings, bad as well as good, at Warwick as well as Ascot.

However Frankie, working for Sheikh Mohammed and his Godolphin team, sticks more and more to the bigger meetings and the better horses, so gets less opportunity to show off his talents.

Lester would have undoubtedly struggled with the modern whip rules.

It would have been interesting to see how the stewards of 2001 would have viewed finishes like that of the 1972 Derby when his whip played such a big part in encouraging Roberto to victory over Rheingold.

Horsemanship: Dettori 8-9 Piggott

Big race record

The nine Piggott Derbies at Epsom were among a record total of 30 British Classics, the last of which was achieved on Rodrigo de Triano in the 2000 Guineas of 1992 when the rider was aged 56.

The 11-time champion jockey won virtually everything, everywhere, the one exception being the Cambridgeshire Handicap, run this month, as usual, at Newmarket.

Dettori would dearly love to land the Derby, the greatest Flat race in the world, and it is likely he will do so before finishing

After all, he is expected to ride on for about 10 years.

He has also been champion jockey, partnering an impressive 233 winners in 1994.

But the competition he faces these days from the likes of Kieren Fallon and Kevin Darley, plus a dozen other top-notch riders, is fiercer than it's ever been.

Big race record: Dettori 8-10 Piggott

Greatest achievement

For Lester to retire aged 50, start training, spend a year in prison for tax offences and then resume his riding career at 54 and win the Breeders' Cup Mile on Royal Academy within a few weeks, is as staggering as those Classics.

And then there is the length of time he was able to continue, competing against rivals, who could, literally, have been his grandchildren.

Frankie's "Magnificent Seven" will live forever in sporting history as well as that of racing.

Most of us pat ourselves on the back when betting on four winners in a day, but to go out there at Ascot with all those rivals and to ride through the card was a quite remarkable performance.

An interesting parallel between the two came when Dettori was crowned champion apprentice jockey, riding more than 100 winners to land that title.

It was the first time that had been achieved since it had been done by one LK Piggott.

Greatest achievement: Dettori 7-9 Piggott

Character

Everyone seems to love the gregarious Dettori, while their attitude to the very private and apparently undemonstrative Piggott, "Old Stoneface" as he was known, was one of admiration.

In this respect the two could not be more different.

The Italian, with his broad smile and ability to play the crowds, is a television star extraordinaire, a regular on the chat show circuit, and has even presented Top Of The Pops.

Working for Sheikh Mohammed has its advantages for Dettori

Meanwhile, the secretive and complicated Lester, has opened his mouth as little as possible over the years.

Few will ever quite know whether this was fully intentional or as a result of his well documented deafness, but there is no doubt that he possesses a wickedly, dry sense of humour.

Character: Dettori 9-9 Piggott

Popularity

For different reasons, both are hugely popular.

Just seeing Frankie makes people feel good, while Lester made people money, week in, week out for nearly half a century.

These days, when we get to a big race, punters want to know what Frankie or Kieren or Michael Kinane are riding, but once upon a time, all they needed to know was what Lester was on.

And then, of course, he might well have manoeuvred behind the scenes to obtain another mount, "jocking off" a colleague in the process, and then that horse started to be supported.

Despite his single-minded ruthlessness, the Jockeys' Association decided that the awards ceremony it stages every spring should be called, a la Hollywood, The Lesters.

Needless to say, Frankie has won his fair share of trophies on that occasion.

Popularity: Dettori 9-8 Piggott

Importance to the sport

Lester was both good and bad for the sport.

Yes, with all that success he made the general public aware of the attractions of the Sport of Kings, and that was obviously very good news.

Dettori made it look easy on Sakhee

Although being a not very approachable mystic was fine for the 1960s and 1970s, his heyday, it would have been no good for the media-driven times in which we live today.

The buzzwords these days are accessibility and inclusivity, two areas in which racing has traditionally not scored very high marks.

But Frankie has done his bit in the most terrific way, something for which he deserves our eternal gratitude.

With his help, racing has been able to demonstrate that it is great fun and can be hugely rewarding, both emotionally and sometimes fiscally.

The last fact was demonstrated by the extra crowds that annually flock to Ascot on the anniversary of the "Magnificent Seven" to see if lightning might strike again.

Normally, you would say that it never will do, but with Frankie Dettori, anything is possible, just as it used to be with Lester Piggott.

Importance: Dettori 10-8 Piggott

Total: Dettori 51-53 Piggott