Quite a Saga as King Charles sees Dettori get it all wrong

Infighting in the British royal family isn’t reserved for marbled halls of palaces, it can happen on a racecourse – Royal Ascot no less.

On Tuesday, the opening day of Royal Ascot 2023, a horse called Saga, bearing the purple, red and gold livery of King Charles III, was involved in some distinctly lower-class brawling during the Wolferton Stakes.

According to the stipendiary stewards, the culprit was not regally owned Saga but a certain Italian individual aka Frankie Dettori. Truth is, this jockey is true “royalty” at Royal Ascot, having ridden 77 winners at the annual five-day meeting over the years and been its top jockey seven times (there is also Dettori’s “Magnificent Seven” at Ascot, when he rode every winner on the card one day, but it wasn’t at a Royal meeting).

Final season

It is the charismatic and wildly popular rider’s final season of competition – a global farewell tour, with Royal Ascot as a highlight.

Dettori was widely tipped and heavily backed to win at least a couple of races on Tuesday. Alas, he could only manage three second-placed finishes in a frustrating sequence.

Instead of cheers and his famous flying dismount, all the ace could take away from the fixture was a nine-day suspension for careless riding of His Majesty’s nag Saga, who had caused interference to multiple rivals.

Racing Post reported: “In the early stages of the race, Dettori shifted his mount right-handed and towards the rail when trying to move in front of Cadillac but the manoeuvre caused his jockey James McDonald to quickly pull his mount back to avoid a collision. That subsequently hampered Certain Lad and Notre Belle Bete, who were positioned behind Cadillac.”

Cadillac finished second last; Saga fifth.

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Britain’s “red-top” papers carried pics of Charles and Camilla exhibiting a variety of interesting facial expressions as they watched the day’s action from the Royal Box, grimacing and gurning due to Saga and Dettori.

To add insult to injury, Ryan Moore – a long-time Dettori rival and inheritor of his crown as the best jockey in the world – clocked up three winners, bringing his total to 75 and getting him a special memento.

Dettori’s ban won’t start until next month, so he has four more days of Royal Ascot in which to bounce back – and no-one is betting against that.