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It has been a thrilling, magnificent and at times bumpy ride, yet now, it appears Frankie Dettori's decision is final. The most celebrated rider over the last four decades will effectively head into retirement after the main card at the Breeders’ Cup in Del Mar on Saturday, when he will have three chances to secure one last top-tier victory to nearly 300 already in his record. Racing may not see a career quite like it again.

An Iconic Figure

Together with racing great Lester Piggott and perhaps John McCririck in the last 50 years, “Frankie” registers with almost everybody, without needing a last name. The public knows who he is, even if they have no interest at all in what he does. In a world which has become divided by social media and online networks, Dettori may well be the last racing figure that will ever experience such immediate name-recognition across a broad swathe of the British population.

Dettori’s lifetime in horse racing, after all, goes back to an era when A Question Of Sport regularly pulled in over 10 million viewers, and his three-year role as a team captain was sufficient to establish him as the lively, irrepressible face of racing. His final year on the program came in 2004, which was also the time when he won the top jockey award for a third and final time. As far as much of the British public, though, he has probably been the top jockey for many seasons since.

A Hard-Won Celebrity

This is, in many ways, a hard-won celebrity, a mixed blessing for incidents on and off the track which have often propelled Dettori onto the front pages, since that memorable day at Ascot in 1996 when he defied odds of 25,000-1 to ride all seven winners that day.

Back in June 2000, he was pulled from a fiery crash of a light aircraft by his fellow rider, Ray Cochrane, after a crash on takeoff where the pilot lost his life. When he finally concluded his pursuit for a Derby victory in 2007, that also became headline news.

While everyone admires a champion, they often love an imperfect hero and a comeback all the more. A six-month ban after a failed drug test for cocaine could have been the end of many riders in their forties, plenty of time for owners and trainers to find a younger alternative. For Dettori, though, suspension in December 2012 served as a bridge to a renewed association with John Gosden in Newmarket, and a new series of champions and Classic winners, such as Enable, Golden Horn and Stradivarius.

Public Highs and Lows

The public highs and setbacks have been a crucial element of Dettori’s story, right up until the embarrassing confession in March that he filed for bankruptcy after a prolonged dispute with HMRC regarding unpaid taxes, a circumstance that Dettori tried, and failed, to keep private.

There have been numerous turns in his story, indeed, that it can be easy to forget that absent his tremendous, once-in-a-generation skill, there would be no story at all.

Early Talent and Instincts

It was evident from his earliest days as a young apprentice that there was an instinctive rapport with the horses whenever Dettori was on board.

Horses ran for him, and got better under him. Back in 1990, he became the first teen since Piggott to reach 100 winners in a season, and also marked his emergence at the highest level with two Group One wins at Ascot, on the same day that he would charge through unbeaten just six years later. His iconic flying dismount, adopted from the US legend Angel Cordero Jr, was incorporated into his routine in 1994, and the thrill from riding a big-race winner has never left him. Nor has the gift of sensing, with something akin to foresight, where to sit, when to make a move and where openings will emerge.

The Future Ahead

But what now for the recognizable figure of UK horse racing? It will not be easy to finally let go, regardless if Dettori fulfils his apparent desire to accept some mounts in South America, which is something I’ve always wanted to experience”. This is not, in fact, an ambition that he had mentioned previously.

But the calamitous decision to follow tax guidance that led to his tax issues means that Dettori will not end his career with sufficient funds in the bank to relax and take things easy.

New Role and Opportunities

He has been appointed to a new position as an international ambassador with the football super-agent Kia Joorabchian’s growing Amo Racing enterprise. Dettori told Matt Chapman on At The Races on Friday this was the primary reason for his departure now, as well as being able to finish at the Breeders’ Cup. “These opportunities are rare, frequently. I like the set-up – it's a youthful team with huge goals,” said the rider.

Joorabchian, himself, was effusive in his compliments for his new ambassador at Del Mar on Thursday. “He is an icon, he is a true legend of the sport,” Joorabchian said. “When you talk about elite athletes like LeBron James, Currys, Lionel Messi and Pelé and similar figures, Frankie represents that to horse racing. When you go into Royal Ascot, you see a statue there, you know that he’s made a big impact on so many lives worldwide.

“He’s not here|“He isn't here} to amuse audiences, he's here to work and he will collaborate with us very closely. He will be involved in every area of our operations [but] he won’t be a racing manager. He is a global ambassador.”

Reality TV are another option, although earlier outings on Big Brother and I’m A Celebrity … often showed a moodier side of his personality, beneath the cheerful public image. In both programs, he was an early exit of the public vote.

It's possible that Dettori himself is unsure what he will do and how he will fill his time after his race-riding days ends. And for at least one more day, he stays an elite professional jockey, concentrating on three mounts at one of the globe's prestigious and dazzling events on the schedule.

One Last Mount

A five-year-old filly named Argine will be his final Grade One mount in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, the identical event in which he registered his first Breeders’ Cup success back in 1994. Her form at home indicates that she needs to improve to compete, yet few jockeys historically have excelled in big moments like Lanfranco Dettori.

One last time, cue Frankie?