In fact, the popular Italian has not been number one since 1995 but now he can once again reclaim the official title.

His third championship success, coming nine years after his first two back-to-back wins, caps a stirring comeback by the 33-year-old, who many believed had lost the desire for race-riding.

After clinching his second championship, Dettori decided to concentrate on quality rather than quantity, which immediately dented his hopes of adding to his title tally.

And after dodging death in a plane crash in 2000, Dettori said he would no longer travel in light aircraft, which title-chasing jockeys rely on to make two or three meetings a day in their obsessive quest for winners.

THE LIFE OF LANFRANCO 1970: Born in Italy. Christened Lanfranco 1985: Comes to Luca Cumani's stable in England 1987: Rides first UK winner 1989: Champion apprentice 1990: First Group One victory (in QEII) among 100 wins for season 1991: Wins first British Classic (Oaks) on Balanchine 1994: Champion Flat jockey 1995: Retains title 1996: 'Magnificent Seven' winners at Ascot 2000: Survives plane crash; made honorary MBE 2002: 100th Group One winner on Kazzia (1,000 Guineas) 2004: Champion jockey again

Furthermore, Dettori's espousal of the celebrity lifestyle is at odds with one of the most demanding and time-consuming of sporting professions.

He was one of the captains on A Question Of Sport, a regular on the chat-show circuit and launched ranges of pizzas and ice cream and even a London restaurant.

This season, when he decided to go full-tilt for the title once again, he still managed to find time to release and promote his autobiography.

And all that alongside a busy home life - he and wife Catherine have four children and a fifth on the way.

His tally of winners had been decreasing but in 2004 the bubbly Italian has shown he can have his panettone and eat it, finally clinching the title in relatively comfortable fashion.

Not that riding close on 200 winners can be considered a piece of cake.

The truth is that beneath the chirpy, seemingly carefree exterior lies a steely determination to succeed.

That is what sparked his decision last winter to target the title once again - he decided that he wanted to be remembered as a top-class jockey not a pantomime horse.

Few men are more driven than Kieren Fallon, who has had an iron grip on the jockeys' title, winning it six times out of the last seven, but this year the Italian has out-fought him.

Such resolve had to be fostered at a young age - Dettori's autobiography reveals an uncomfortable relationship with his own father, himself a champion jockey in Italy, who sent him to Newmarket as a 14-year-old, knowing no-one and unable to speak a word of English.

Photos: Dettori's career in pictures

Dettori admits he used to cry himself to sleep and beg his father in their 10-minute weekly phone call to let him come home.

And a rebellious streak gradually emerged - he developed a gambling habit while experimentation with drugs led to a caution for possession of cocaine - "Being a playboy came easily to me," he said.

Dettori mended his ways and settled down but perhaps the real turning point in his story is the plane crash in 2000.

The Italian was dragged out of the burning wreckage by fellow jockey Ray Cochrane (who is now his agent) but the pilot of the plane, Patrick Mackey, was killed.

Dettori escaped death in a light aircraft crash in 2000

Battered and bruised, and sidelined with a broken ankle, Dettori had time to reflect on his lucky escape and his future priorities.

"My entire attitude to life has changed and I am setting new targets," he said.

"I will never be champion jockey again - they can stuff it. There are more important things in my life."

He changed his mind about the title but one thing that has remained constant is his belief that he survived the crash because "God had saved me".

Perhaps the feeling there is a divine will shaping his career will keep him riding until he has clinched one of the few big races to so far elude him - the Epsom Derby.

But if his pursuit of that goal keeps him in the saddle for several years to come, racing - a sport which needs as many good ambassadors as it can get - should be grateful.