25 February 2023 , 19:24
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Frankie Dettori was narrowly denied a lucrative win in the world’s richest horse race in his retirement year on Saturday by the trainer known as ‘the man in the hat’.
The Italian finished strongly but just too late on Country Grammer who was beaten into second place, three quarters of a length behind Japanese horse Panthalassa, trained by Yoshito Yahagi in the £16 million Saudi Cup.
“He ran a super race,” said Dettori who had to settle for a share of £2.9 million second prize-money on last year’s Dubai World Cup winner.
“I was outpaced all the way. At the top of the straight I thought ‘I’m going to finish a good sixth here, I’m not going to get any money’!
“And then they all died and, bless him, he’s got so much heart and he was staying on well.
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“His game is a male and quarter, back to Dubai.”
Winning trainer Yahagi has become unmistakeable around the world, not just for his successes in the Middle East, Australia and the US, where he became the first Japanese trainer to win a Breeders’ Cup race in 2021, but his trademark hat.
'The man in the hat', Yoshito Yahagi at the Saudi CupFor Saudi Cup day he chose a bright purple trilby, maintaining a habit that he has kept up since he first started training.
“When I started as a trainer nobody knew me so the way I could get people to realise me was to pick a hat. Today I am wearing the same hat I was wearing at the Breeder’s Cup. I brought three hats to Saudi Arabia. I have over 300 hats.”