WHEN we look back on the year 2023 through the prism of the flat season, what will be the overriding memory?

In many years that memory is of a spectacular performance or an outstanding champion in action, but when I close my eyes and imagine the British flat season which finished at Ascot in October, all I can see in my minds eye is the giant, grinning face of Frankie Dettori.

Now, Frankie is not everyone’s cup of tea, and if your main pleasure in life is a cup of tea, then the Sardinian is not necessarily an ideal companion.

Social media has a love/hate relationship with him, and his decision to announce his retirement before the start of the new season grated in certain quarters with those who prefer to see their champions retire suddenly and gracefully, rather than with maximum publicity and maximum earning potential.

The response to the story about his decision not to ride at Listowel’s Harvest Festival encapsulates that dichotomy, but for every one who finds his personality grating and his demeanour avaricious, there are plenty more who see rather his passion for the sport he has lived and loved for decades and a hint of Peter Pan in his enthusiasm and occasional petulance.

The son of a brilliant jockey but an overbearing father, Dettori has always been most at home on top of – or vaulting off – a thoroughbred, and it’s not the biggest surprise that his retirement was deferred again at the end of the season, with Dettori off to charm a new audience in the sunshine of California.

Gosden input

It’s hard to separate any part of the season from Dettori, whose career looked in danger of ending prematurely when he briefly fell out with John Gosden last summer, but Frankie has always needed focus and that swift kick in the pants was the incentive he needed. He has been at his ebullient best all season, and the narrative of the year is his concluding chapter – well, perhaps a penultimate chapter, as you can never say never with Dettori.

Having been humiliated when Andrew Balding’s Chaldean unseated him leaving the stalls in the Greenham, Dettori typically bounced back to take the 2000 Guineas on the colt, while Oisin Murphy returned from his enforced absence with a classic win aboard Godolphin’s Mawj the following day, that filly coming miles clear of the field as she battled with Dermot Weld’s Tahiyra.

Epsom’s Derby meeting also began with a bang for Dettori as he and Emily Upjohn swept from last to first to win the Coronation Cup before securing a double for the Clarehaven stable of John and Thady Gosden on board Soul Sister, who beat the Coolmore hotpot Savethelastdance.

The Derby looked an open affair on paper, with winter favourite Auguste Rodin weak in the market after a disappointing effort in the Guineas, but Aidan O’Brien’s charge ran down outsider King Of Steel to steady the Coolmore ship.

Royal Ascot was, as always, intriguing. A clash of Guineas winners in the St James’s Palace Stakes saw Chaldean outgunned by new Coolmore star Paddington, who started his season in the Madrid Handicap, but was confirming himself much better than a handicapper in following up his win in the Irish 2000 Guineas under Ryan Moore.

Equinox form

Mostahdaf paid a massive compliment to Japanese superstar Equinox by winning the Prince of Wales’s Stakes under Jim Crowley and followed up when beating Emily Upjohn and Paddington in a compelling renewal of the Juddmonte International Stakes at York, with Dettori replacing a suspended Crowley. He had tried to match strides with Equinox in the Dubai Sheema Classic but was shrugged aside by the world’s best racehorse.

Royal Ascot also saw the birth of a nascent racing superpower, with several horses running under the banner of Wathnan Racing. It turned out the ‘Peacock Blue, Old Gold Sleeves, Red Cap’ silks were registered to Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, and the horses bought on his behalf to race at Ascot were well chosen.

Of a trio to sport the livery at the meeting, Gregory won the Queen’s Vase and Courage Mon Ami took the Gold Cup itself, both trained at Clarehaven, and both ridden by a delighted Dettori. The smile was wiped from his face when discovering that bans incurred at the meeting would prevent him riding Kinross in the July Cup, one of the few races missing from Frankie’s CV.

The Emir ended his first season in British racing with just four wins from ten individual runners trained in the UK, but for two of the first three to win historic prizes at Royal Ascot is the stuff of Hollywood scripts, and we can expect a much bigger presence next year, with the appointment of James Doyle as retained rider and some high-profile recent sales acquisitions suggesting as much.

There was Ascot success for Dermot Weld as Tahiyra built on her Irish 1000 Guineas win to claim the Coronation Stakes, while Julie Camacho’s Shaquille overcame a dreadful start and a desire to run off with Oisin Murphy to win the Commonwealth Cup. The three-year-old did much the same when winning the July Cup to lay claim to champion sprint honours but ended his season with a whimper in the Sprint Cup at Haydock before heading off to stud, where I’m sure he will prove a red-hot lover.

Powerful Paddington

Paddington stepped up in trip to win the Eclipse Stakes in early July, and then sealed his reputation with victory in the Sussex Stakes at a wet and murky Goodwood. He ended his career with successive defeats at York and in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes in October, but he remains one of the stars of the season and can be forgiven for training off having won six consecutive races between the end of March and the beginning of August.

Hollie Doyle and Nashwa got back on the scoresheet in the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket’s July Meeting, which was missing both Dettori and Oisin Murphy due to whip offences, once again bringing the BHA’s new rules into focus. The Newmarket fixture also introduced British racegoers to Aidan O’Brien’s City of Troy who bolted up in the Group 2 Superlative Stakes under Ryan Moore.

Jim Crowley seemed at his very best when guiding Hukum to victory by a head over Westover in a gripping King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in July, but the jockey was hit with a 20-day ban for using his whip three times more than the maximum allowed under BHA rules, meaning he had to miss the winning ride on Mostahdaf at York.

Hukum failed to fire on quick ground in the Arc and the full-brother to Baaeed was retired to stud in Japan.

A Goodwood gem

Normal service resumed at Goodwood which was less than glorious with heavy rain turning the ground heavy on Wednesday. The opening day saw a remarkable front-running ride by Tom Marquand on Quickthorn in the Goodwood Cup, where Dettori and Gold Cup winner Courage Mon Ami were unplaced, but Frankie was smiling again when Kinross won the Lennox Stakes for his great friend Marc Chan and trainer Ralph Beckett.

Big Evs coped with the mud on Wednesday to win the Molecomb Stakes and connections were talking of ambitious plans to take on the best with the Windsor Castle winner.

Bought to race at York, his Nunthorpe bid ended in disappointment, but Mick Appleby and owners Paul and Rachael Teasdale were not put off and the speedball provided one of the most memorable moments of the year when winning at the Breeders’ Cup.

Vandeek was another impressive juvenile winner at Goodwood for Simon and Ed Crisford, and the son of Havana Grey added Group 1 wins in the Prix Morny and Middle Park Stakes to mark himself as one of the brightest prospects around for 2024.York’s big meeting in August saw a popular result in the Nunthorpe Stakes as Adam West’s outsider Live In The Dream won to leave his trainer looking both delighted and bewildered, a combination which endeared the young Epsom handler to television audiences around the country.

Continuous was an impressive winner of the Great Voltigeur Stakes and went on to claim the St Leger for Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore.

Bloom on the board

The Gimcrack Stakes win of Lake Forest went under the radar at the time, but with the owners of the colt being Brighton & Hove Albion owner Tony Bloom and his long-term colleague Ian McAleavy, it may be more significant than it looked.Bloom is perhaps the world’s shrewdest punter, and McAleavy is the ideal partner as the pair look to extend their interest in horseracing.

Bloom’s main successes have been over the jumps with Cheltenham Festival winners Penhill and Energumene but he does not do anything by halves, and if he says he’s getting into flat racing in a big way, he will make it work.

Regional took the Sprint Cup at Haydock in September, meaning that all five Group 1 sprints open to older horses in the calendar went to different trainers, with Ed Bethell joining a list that included Archie Watson, Julie Camacho, Charlie Hills, and Adam West. We may have no outstanding sprinter, but the spread of talent among the ranks is encouraging for competition.

Aidan O’Brien starred in the autumn’s big races for the juveniles at Newmarket, with Ylang Ylang winning the Fillies’ Mile and City of Troy the Dewhurst, but Aidan will have taken as much pride from the result of the Cheveley Park Stakes despite Rubies And Pearls being beaten into second place, as the winning trainer was son Donnacha, and his filly Porta Fortuna also took the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot and was denied only narrowly at the Breeders’ Cup, giving O’Brien jr much to anticipate for the future. Porta Fortuna was also bred by Aidan and Annemarie O’Brien’s Whisperview Trading enterprise.

Awesome Inspiral

Newmarket also said a fond farewell to Frankie Dettori as he rode Inspiral to victory in the Sun Chariot Stakes before the pair ended the campaign with victory in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

The great last hurrah of the flat season came at Ascot in October, which typically proved a step too far for many of the big favourites, and shock results were the order of the day with Trawlerman, Art Power and Poptronic all unexpected winners, and it was Dettori who shone on the first-named in the Long Distance Cup, outriding Ryan Moore.

That victory might have been deemed enough to retire on, but Dettori is nothing if not a glutton for the big moment, and he produced a quite impeccable ride to take the Champion Stakes on King Of Steel to bring the official curtain down on his British riding career.

The big grey colt looked all at sea for much of the race, but Dettori swiftly went through Plans A, B and C before Plan D eventually proved the key, with his mount belatedly finding his stride when switched round the entire field for an unlikely but hugely popular victory.

“It’s a fairytale ending for me,” said Frankie after the defining moment of his final season.

“Ascot is my home. I had the same surreal moment when I won my first Group 1 with Mark of Esteem, when everything went dark. It is very hard to explain my feeling. I thought I would cry, but I’m too happy to cry.

“From the beginning of the season, it’s been tremendous. I wanted to finish at the top and I can’t be more at the top than that. “I’m very proud of my career and this year, it’s been phenomenal. Can I go and have a beer now?”

Go and have a beer Frankie – you’ve earned it.