Dettori feeling nerves ahead of Meydan meeting

Jockey returns for first race at course since Dubai Gold Cup in March 2012

Frankie Dettori riding Eco Warrior at Lingfield racecourse in England on his comeback ride after breaking his ankle late last year. Alan Crowhurst / Getty Images

Frankie Dettori has admitted that he is a little nervous ahead of his return to Meydan racecourse on Thursday for the first time in nearly two years.

The former Godolphin rider has not ridden at the Dubai World Cup Carnival since guiding Opinion Poll to victory in the rearranged Dubai Gold Cup in March 2012.

He cast off the cobwebs on Wednesday at Lingfield Park in England after a three-month hiatus from racing due to an ankle injury, riding two winners.

He partners Mshawish in the Group 2 Al Fahidi Fort, the feature event of the six-race card, and Silver Ocean in the third race, a handicap run over 1,600 metres.

“It will bring a little bit of a choke moment when I see my old peg,” Dettori said before catching the 4.30pm flight to Dubai yesterday. “I have a locker there that hasn’t been opened since 2012.

“I am still the leading rider at Meydan, so I have some good friends and memories that I will take with me. I am going to bring that with me.”

In his role as first rider for Godolphin for 17 years, Dubai became Dettori’s playground, but a lot has passed under the bridge since Opinion Poll became his 101st Carnival winner.

He split from the international stable of Sheikh Mohammed, Vice-President of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, in October 2012, an episode that led him to endure bouts of depression and an unhappy home life. He was subsequently banned from the saddle after testing positive for what later was found to be cocaine.

It was then announced that he would be the retained rider to Sheikh Joaan Bin Hamad of Qatar, owner of Mshawish, before he suffered the injury that forced him to miss the winning ride aboard Treve in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris in October.

It was announced on Wednesday by Al Asayl that Dettori would be the nominated rider for Battle Of Marengo during the Carnival, starting in the second round of the Al Maktoum Challenge on February 6, and Dettori was keen to partner the flagship horse of UAE champion trainer Ernst Oertel.

“I am looking forward to the ride, but we will see what happens as if they are not happy with me they will probably change me. He was a good horse in the past, so we will see,” he said.

Having proved he has lost none of his powers in a stop-start 15 months with his pair of successes yesterday, Dettori faces a mammoth task to get Mshawish to deny Mike De Kock’s trio of runners at Meydan.

De Kock has won the past two runnings of the Al Fahidi Fort with Viscount Nelson and Mushreq. He fields Anaerobio, the mount of Christophe Soumillon, as well as Kavanagh and Gale Force Ten, another recruit from Aidan O’Brien’s Ballydoyle operation in Ireland.

“Anaerobio won well two weeks ago and delighted us,” De Kock said. “When he arrived in Dubai we really thought he was a classic hope, but he missed that year and it took a long time to get him back near his best.

“This is the obvious place to test him over his optimum conditions. Kavanagh ran well on his first start back. The extra 200m should help and the switch to turf is not a problem.

“This was always the plan to start Gale Force Ten off here. Like all mine who have been through quarantine, he is likely to need his first run.”