Frankie keeps foot on the gas
Dettori went into the meeting one ahead of Kieren Fallon at the top of the table after skipping the afternoon fare, which allowed the champion to creep closer with a Lingfield victory.
Both are being hunted up by the in-form Seb Sanders, who notched his 100th winner at Haydock’s evening fixture.
Dettori’s victory came on Mighty Empire in the Firestone Products Nursery.
The Mark Tompkins-trained colt raced keenly in behind but had plenty left when a gap appeared on the rails, and once Dettori drove him through it the result was never in doubt.
The 9-4 favourite beat Alright My Son by three and a half lengths.
Dettori and Fallon had been upstaged in the opening Stuart And Dave’s Handicap when Polygonal (6-1) ran right away with the race under Gerald Mosse.
And Darryll Holland kept an interest in the championship with a double on Semenovskii (6-1) and Corriolanus (20-1).
Both the big two had placed horses before Dettori finally made the breakthrough, and the meeting ended with the score Dettori 106, Fallon 104.
Earlier, at Lingfield Eddie Ahern upstaged Fallon and Sanders when he rode a 65-1 double courtesy of Finders Keepers and United Spirit.
United Spirit (5-1) got the better of a thrilling finish in the seven-furlong Chris Wotton Cup Fillies’ Handicap.
Ed Dunlop’s Finders Keepers proved good value for his 10-1 starting price in the six-furlong totetrifecta Rated Stakes, holding on by three parts of a length from The Jobber.
