Frankie Dettori will team up with Bob Baffert in the next leg of the US Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes.
The 53-year-old was struggling to find a mount to ride in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs last weekend until he picked up the mount on outsider Society Man.
His first ride in the race since 2000 did not feature on the day, finishing 33 lengths behind winner Mystik Dan from his wide draw. Dettori’s agent Ron Anderson has had more joy finding a suitable mount in the May 18 Preakness, run at Pimlico in Maryland.
He has booked him on 6-1 chance Imagination for Baffert, who is banned from having runners at Churchill Downs as a result of the disqualification of Medina Spirit from the 2021 Kentucky Derby after failing a post-race drug test.
Baffert, who has won the Preakness a record eight times, will also run Arkansas Derby winner Muth., the ante-post favourite.
Dettori has ridden Imagination on his last two starts, winning a Grade 2 race before going down by a neck in the Santa Anita Derby in April.
The superstar jockey, who relocated to California after 32 years in Britain to prolong his career, having previously declared he would retire, discussed his new life in an interview at Churchill Downs with NBC. Sports.
“My wife said to me two days ago, ‘We left a seven bedroom mansion with an outdoor swimming pool and 18 boxes and beautiful land to go to a one-bedroom apartment in Pasadena," he said.
"Now I have left California and we have eight suitcases in a hotel near the airport .
“I decided to come here full time with the main priority to get the ride in this beautiful place and I am challenging myself with the best in the world.
“I guess people got sick of seeing me all the time. Coming to a new place has given me and the public something different. It’s given me a little bit more life.. I didn’t expect that much love, to be honest with you. I’m really fitting in well.”