The horse is a special animal. It has a sixth sense. I realised that at an early age. If I can transmit positive thinking to the horse then he’ll perform better for me. So I try to surround myself with a good family life and friends because if I go to work in a happy frame of mind it will make a big difference. That’s the key to my success, I would say.
As long as I can remember I’ve been near horses. My father was a champion jockey and my parents lived on farmland outside Milan. Every night after school I’d go with my tin bucket and collect fresh milk from the farmer.
The hardest thing my father ever did to me was send me to England by myself. I was 14, and he sent me to train as an apprentice jockey. He had the vision and knew I had talent, and he pushed me that extra mile.
I’m still scared of flying. Since the plane crash [a light aircraft Dettori was travelling in crashed in 2000, killing the pilot] I’m really claustrophobic. Which is a great shame because I like to do all the rides with my kids, at Disneyworld and all that, but I freak out when they strap you in. I only started flying in small planes again last year.
My son reads better than me, so I do regret not getting more of an education. I wasn’t much good at school, but I did love it.
England was pretty closed when I arrived. I was classed as a proper foreigner in the stables. I really started on the wrong foot – I was homesick, I couldn’t speak the language. It took a while for me to make friends.
British people are more organised than Italians, but we’re more family orientated and laid back. Our life revolves around food and family; yours around business and enjoying yourself. I’ve got the best of both worlds now.
I’m Italian so I have no choice but to be Catholic. I am a believer, but I don’t go to church every Sunday.
If you get beat, you get beat. I never thought I could win all seven races in a day at Ascot [in 1996]. So when I went up for the seventh I thought, I’m not going to let this race spoil it.
What you can’t have, you want. I love food, mainly because I can’t have it – jockeys are always on such strict diets. That’s what inspired me to open a chain of restaurants with Marco Pierre White.
I stopped gambling when I realised how difficult horse racing was. As a stable boy I had a gambling problem; I used to get paid £12 each Friday and sometimes I’d lose the lot the same day on the horses. I put it down to boredom and thinking I knew everything.
My worst habit is I’ve got no patience. My wife says I’ve got bipolar because sometimes I’m happy, sometimes I’m not, and I’ve got the concentration span of the flea. She’s got a point – I’m often up and down.
I can jump off a horse, but I can’t do what my mother used to do. She rode horses in a circus and she’d stand on two horses and ride them that way.
Every 10 years you change. From 20 to 30, from 30 to 40, I became a different person. I don’t know if the world changes you, or if it’s ageing, but you have different priorities and challenges.
Frankie Dettori is an ambassador for the Investec Derby Festival on 5-6 June (epsomdowns.co.uk)
