Frankie Dettori's Magnificent Seven
On an extraordinary day the popular jockey went through the card - and sent the bookies running for cover.
Pint-sized jockey Frankie Dettori has long been a favourite of UK online casinos fans and the British public, what with his natty dress sense and broad Italian accent, his entertaining appearances on A Question of Sport and his famous flying dismounts.
But it was on September 28, 1996, that Dettori pulled off the extraordinary feat for which for which he will always be remembered. Lucky punters will always thank him, and the bookies will never forgive him.
For at Ascot on that famous day, Dettori rode in and won all seven races on the card.
It was one of the most memorable moments in racing history, try as the bookies may to forget it ever happened. The accumulated odds on Dettori pulling off all seven winners came to an astronomical 25,091 to 1.
Bookies' disaster
It's now estimated that Dettori's feat cost the betting industry over £30million. Some independent betting shops were ruined, and some racecourse bookies were still paying off their debts years later.
It was "the worst day in bookmaking history," said William Hill's spokesperson David Hood at the time. "Our managers will be settling bets until midnight. The fifth winner was expensive, the sixth dismal, and after the seventh, it was time to put the lights out."
Said another bookie: "It's a disaster. We don't expect any sympathy but it's the worst day's business we've done since Lester Piggott was in his heyday and winning the Derby ever year."
Ladbrokes alone lost £10million. "The punishment was so bad you could almost see the blood on the rails in the betting ring," said spokesperson Mike Dillon.
Lucky punter
One lucky punter was Darren Yates, a 30-year-old self-employed builder, who won a total of £550,823.54 from an outlay of just £69.76, including tax, on a 50p Super Heinz and a £2 each-way accumulator. He placed the bet n a William Hill Shop in Morecambe. Another punter won a similar amount with a £10 each-way accumulator that they'd casually walked in off the street to place in a local Ladbroke's.
"To scoop more than half a million is beyond any punter's wildest dreams and better than winning the lottery," said Yates. He spent 10,000 guineas on his own racehorse, which unsurprisingly he called Seventh Heaven. It has yet to win a race.
Five, six, seven…
Dettori's last three year mounts of the day were all driven to become favourites by the weight of money backing the earlier winners and accumulating as Dettori strung his winners together.
"I'm just warming up. Is there any more racing?" cracked Dettori after his seventh victorious flying dismount of the day. "This is everybody's dream. God was on my side."
On December 29, 2000, Dettori was awarded an honorary MBE. He won the English jockey's championship in 2004.
DETTORI'S WINNERS
Cumberland Lodge Stakes: Wall Street 2-1
Racal Diadem Stakes: Diffident 12-1
Queen Elizabeth II Stakes: Mark of Esteem 100-30
Tote Festival Handicap: Decorated Hero 7-1
Rosemary Related Stakes: Fatefully 7-4
Blue Seal Stakes: Lochangel 5-4
The Gordon Karter Handicap: Fujiyama Crest 2-1
Total accumulator odds: 25,095-1
