Frankie Dettori farewell tour makes new stop as Hungary rolls out red carpet

01 September 2023 , 18:58

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Frankie Dettori is getting the VIP treatment in Budapest (Image: PA)

The Frankie Dettori farewell tour will take in a new stop on Saturday when the superstar jockey makes his riding debut in Hungary.

The Italian was given the red carpet treatment when he arrived in the capital Budapest on Friday and received a warm welcome at a reception hosted by the Minister of Defence.

He also toured the historic Kincsem Park racecourse where he has six rides at its Autumn International Meeting, two of which are for British stables. Andrew Balding and David Simcock also have a runner each.

Dettori rides the Ian Williams-trained Silent Film in a local Group 2 and Splendent, from the yard of Paul and Oliver Cole, in the local Group 1, both horses owned by Jim and Fitri, who have business connections in Hungary and have arranged the visit.

Botond Kovacs, the track's international liaison officer, said: “We have been organising this meeting since July and this is the first time we will be hosting horses from the UK and the first time Frankie. We are absolutely thrilled.

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“He is being treated like royalty. He has seen Kincsem Park already and in his own words said the track is ‘ten out of ten’. We are over the moon to be hosting these very important guests.”

The 52-year-old has enjoyed such a golden summer that after riding the winners of the £1 million Juddmonte International and £500,000 Sky Bet Ebor at York he teased that he could make a u-turn on his decision to retire.

Organisers at Kincsem Park will be delighted if he can add success at Kincsem Park, where racing has been staged for 197 years, to his extraordinary cv.

Kovacs said: “Frankie has six rides, two for the Hays and four Hungarian-trained ones, and I expect him to ride at least two winners.

"Frankie is world famous, Within our racing community he is very well known and I am sure he will be known by the rest of the population after this.”

Jon Lees