Dettori dislocates shoulder, riding status is day-to-day

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Champion jockey Frankie Dettori suffered a dislocated right shoulder as a result of an incident in the starting gate Thursday at Aqueduct.

Dettori, 53, was off his mounts Friday at Aqueduct and his status is day-to-day, according to his agent Ron Anderson, though the prospects of him riding over the weekend seemed remote. Dettori, who was named on six horses on Friday, is named on eight horses at Aqueduct on Saturday. He is also named to ride two stakes at Finger Lakes on Monday.

Anderson said Dettori was scheduled to see Dr. Stephen O’Brien, an orthopedic specialist who has treated many of the New York-based jockeys in the past.

In Thursday’s last race, Dettori was aboard Pretty Liza in a maiden turf sprint. Pretty Liza reared up and unseated Dettori who landed on his back. Initially, emergency medical technicians brought a stretcher to use to take Dettori off the turf course. But Dettori got up and walked over to the ambulance. He was then placed on a stretcher and transported to Jamaica Hospital for evaluation. Dettori’s shoulder popped out of its socket, but doctors put it back in.
Pretty Liza was scratched but otherwise okay.

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Dettori is a three-time champion jockey in Europe who has won nearly 300 Group or Grade 1 stakes races. He had planned to retire in 2023 but had such a good year both in Europe and the United States that he decided to ride in 2024 and moved his tack to the United States.

This year, Dettori has ridden 62 winners from 359 mounts, and those mounts have earned $10.69 million in purses. He has won 11 graded stakes this year, including the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on Newgate and the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley on Beaute Cachee. His most recent stakes victory came in the Grade 3, $3.1 million Nashville Derby on Bellum Justum at Kentucky Downs.

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