Frankie Dettori survived a pre-race scare to notch up the 2,000th winner of his British career at Ascot on Saturday. The Italian jockey was unshipped by Nightfall leading up to the start of the first race on the card.
But the two-year-old colt, owned fittingly by Godolphin, Dettori's main employers, made amends by carrying the jockey to victory by a short head.
It was also apt that his 2,000th winner came at Ascot, scene of Dettori's greatest triumph when he rode all seven winners on the card in 1996.
Dettori, whose first winner in England came as a 16-year-old back in 1987, did his trademark flying dismount in the Ascot winner's enclosure.
"This country has treated me like one of its own children in the 18 years I've lived here and I think this was a most appropriate place for it to happen," said the 33-year-old.
Dettori has twice been crowned champion jockey and has won all of the British Classics with the exception of the Derby.
MMIX
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