Dettori concludes four-win day with well-judged Wishing Well ride

ARCADIA, Calif. – A world-renowned jockey on his retirement farewell tour scored his first Santa Anita four-bagger Saturday, including the $100,500 Wishing Well Stakes, after which Frankie Dettori pondered what might have been if he spent winter in California at age 42 instead of 52.

“The way things are going, I wish this had been 10 years ago,” a smiling Dettori said after guiding Freedom Flyer ($16.40) to a front-running upset in the Wishing Well, a hillside turf sprint for fillies and mares. The win was his fourth from seven mounts Saturday.

Dettori, who announced plans to retire at the end of 2023, is spending his first winter riding full time at Santa Anita. His reputation preceded him before the season began Dec.26, and after his stakes win Saturday, Dettori acknowledged uncertainty when the meet began.

“I came here as a farewell tour, I didn’t know what to expect from great riders, trainers, people,” Dettori said. “It’s hard to put into words. I’ve been really overwhelmed by the warmth of the people.”

Dettori won three races opening day, including the Grade 2 San Antonio on Country Grammer, and never looked back. His four wins Saturday cemented his ranking as the meet’s second-leading rider behind Juan Hernandez. Dettori has won 18 races at the meet, including five stakes.

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Saturday in the Wishing Well, Dettori and Freedom Flyer benefited from an ideal pace scenario. Running downhill, the 5-year-old mare got away with a soft first quarter-mile in 22.26 and a half-mile in 44.35. Both fractions rank as the second-slowest this winter for hillside turf sprints.

Freedom Flyer shook off pace-pressing Stella Noir crossing the dirt, repelled Bay Storm, and won by a neck over late-running rally-wide favorite Big Summer. The runner-up ran well enough to win, but the slow pace and ground loss were too much to overcome.

Leonard Powell trains Freedom Flyer, a mare by Constitution who was winning her first stakes race. Owned by Marsha Naify, Freedom Flyer has won four races and $272,120 from 21 starts. The Wishing Well is restricted to fillies and mares who have not won a graded stakes since Aug. 1, 2022.

Following one-two finishers Freedom Flyer and Big Summer, the order of finish was Bay Storm, Countess Rosina, Lady Jae and Stellar Noir.

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