Dettori wins second Derby in two days
Frankie Dettori completed an amazing weekend with an all-the-way win on Lawman in the Prix du Jockey-Club at Chantilly today.
A day after finally riding his first Derby winner at Epsom on Authorized, Dettori landed the French version with a perfectly-judged ride.
The Italian wound up the pace inside the final half-mile and made a race-winning kick for home with two furlongs to run. Literato flashed home for second, with Shamdinan third.
John Gosden's Raincoat was expected to be involved in the finish after chasing home Authorized in the Dante at York, but Richard Hughes' mount was never competitive.
Mick Channon's Halicarnassus and Eoghan O'Neill's Medicine Path were always in rear.
The win completed a perfect two days for Dettori, who once again showed he is the man for the big occasion and treated his fans to yet another flying dismount after returning to the winner's enclosure on the Jean-Marie Beguigne-trained colt.
Dettori was only booked for the mount after regular jockey Olivier Peslier was claimed to ride No Dream, who finished unplaced.
Lawman, having just his fifth start, showed slight signs of immaturity before the race and unshipped Dettori in the parade.
But he was perfectly behaved during the race, which got under way at the second time of asking following a false start, and gave Dettori his third win in the race after Polytain in 1992 and Shamardal in 2005.
Dettori said: "It was very hard for me to judge as I didn't really know the horse, but Olivier and the trainer gave me great confidence.
"I thought if I can get a breather in round the turn and then drop the hammer down the straight, I will be very hard to catch.
"I don't feel a thing any more, and I don't know what to think - I don't even know what is going on!
"This is just so surreal and crazy. People wait all their lives to win a Derby and I win two in 24 hours."
Dettori famously went through the card on an unforgettable day at Ascot in 1996 and he added: "The 'Magnificent Seven' was unique, but these are major races and I am sure I will have a headache at Windsor tomorrow night!"
With Authorized's win having taken the bookmakers to the cleaners for anything upwards of £20m (€29.45m), Coral were left bemoaning the fact some lucky punters had played up their winnings on a Dettori double.
"Plenty of customers picked up their Authorized winnings this morning and many kept the faith in Frankie doing the Derby double, making this a weekend to forget for us," said Coral's David Stevens.
VC Bet's Neal Wilkins added: "The huge losses incurred over Authorized's brilliant Epsom Derby victory have already been well documented, but Frankie's fantastic ride from the front in France really rubbed salt into open wounds and the boys in Gibraltar are currently in melt down.
"A large number of clients had the Frankie double this weekend and although we had a very good mark for the winner and went 4-1 when 11-2 was available elsewhere, Lawman was still a very expensive loser."
