Frankie Dettori's Magnificent 7 » Great British Racing Frankie Dettori's Magnificent 7 7 October 2015 Frankie Dettori achieved a near-impossible feat when winning all seven races on the card at Ascot in September 1996, including winning the prestigious Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. The cumulative odds of these wins was 25,051-1, and earned one lucky punter an incredible £500,000 when Dettori completed his ‘Magnificent Seven’. This was a landmark day for British horseracing, and made a hero of Dettori, while stripping stunned bookmakers of millions. He was already a well-known jockey before the Magnificent Seven, but the achievement made him a household name. We take a look back at the races that made up this momentous day. 1. Wall Street - 2/1 On the day that he single-handedly cost the betting industry more than £30 million, it seems fitting that Frankie Dettori’s first ride was called Wall Street. He guided the three-year-old colt home over the mile and a half course to claim his first victory of the afternoon in the Cumberland Lodge Stakes.

At 2/1 odds, this was not the most surprising of Dettori’s winners of the day, but it set him up for a day of success. 2. Diffident – 12/1 Diffident had had a series of disappointing results, and it was considered that Frankie Dettori had little chance of victory on the 12/1 shot. However, the Diadem Stakes was run fairly slowly, and this went in Diffident’s favour to result in winner number two of the day. This was the standout run of Diffident’s seven career wins, and he was sent to be a stallion in India. He stood at the Poonawalla Stud, at Pune, where he has sired local Guineas and Oaks winners. 3. Mark of Esteem – 100/30 The race came down to a two-way battle between Mark of Esteem and Henry Cecil’s impressive filly Bosra Sham. Dettori asked the horse for maximum effort with a furlong to go, and passed Bosra Sham and Pat Eddery to claim the third victory in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. This win made him the best in Europe that year.

He was later retired to Darley Stud, where he sired Derby winner Sir Percy and top sprinter Reverance. 4. Decorated Hero – 7/1 Another aptly named charge carried Dettori to his fourth win in the Tote Festival Handicap – at a relatively modest 7/1. The field had 26 runners, and Decorated Hero carried the top weight of 9st13lb, so Dettori’s chances of winning looked slim. Despite this, his luck continued to bound along he pulled off a three-and-a-half length fourth victory. The horse raced for two more seasons, winning 14 of his 33 races, before finding a home at the British Racing School in Newmarket, where he helped to teach aspiring jockeys. 5. Fatefully – 7/4 This was a narrow victory in the Rosemary Stakes, claimed from Dettori’s friend and rival Ray Cochrane aboard Abeyr. Cochrane recalls: “As we pulled up, the horses were very close. I said, ‘Is anyone else getting a chance today?’” Fatefully won once more before becoming a broodmare at Gainsborough Stud.

She produced several foals, including Nassau Stakes winner Favourable Terms. 6. Lochangel – 5/4 Triumph on Lochangel in the Blue Seal Stakes continued an astonishing afternoon for Dettori as he returned to the winners’ enclosure for the sixth time. This was the horse’s maiden two-year-old victory, and she subsequently went on to win the Nunthorpe Stakes at four years old. She was later retired to Littleton Stud. 7. Fujiyama Crest – 2/1 The BBC interrupted its traditional Grandstand coverage to broadcast the live action from Ascot as bookies slashed the odds for Dettori’s final mount, Fujiyama Crest. He set off as 2/1 favourite for the Gordon Carter Handicap, having started the day at 12/1. Nobody thought the horse would win, especially carrying the top weight of 10 stone, but he held off the fast-finishing Northern Fleet to seal Dettori’s place in the history books. Fujiyama Crest had a mixed career after winning this race, descending to claiming company after a few changes of stable. He was happily retired as the Dettori family pet.

Dettori's magnificent day - CNN.com Dettori's magnificent day Frankie Dettori made history in 1996 by riding seven winners in seven races Feat made Italian jockey famous, punters cleaned up, bookmakers lost out Dettori bought final horse, Fujiyama Crest, now retired and Dettori family pet Final post has pride of place in Frankie's garden near home in Newmarket By Hilary Whiteman CNN LONDON, England (CNN) -- Few racing fans will forget the day Frankie Dettori stormed into the history books as the first man to take seven winners past the post on a seven-race card. Frankie Dettori performs his signature "flying dismount" after winning all seven races at Ascot, September 28, 1996. more photos » It happened in the summer of 1996 at Royal Ascot, the British racecourse founded in 1711 by Queen Anne who considered it the ideal place for "horses to gallop at full stretch." And gallop he did; seizing seven wins from seven races.

The win sent a tremor of excitement through the racing industry, made a hero of the small man from Sardinia and stripped ashen-faced bookmakers of millions. "I think that the bookmakers lost in the region of £50 million, $100 million, in today's money, so history was made," Frankie Dettori recalls. "We've been racing thoroughbreds for 300 years and I'm the first one to get there, and good luck to the guy who follows me." Few think that anyone will. The odds on him winning the straight set were 25,095 to one. Millions watched his victory in the stands and on television; the BBC's Grandstand cut into its traditional Saturday afternoon sports coverage to show the pictures live from Ascot. Ray Cochrane, Dettori's friend and manager, had the rare pleasure of watching the drama unfold in front of him, literally. "I was actually riding that day. Everybody wanted to beat him on that last race," Cochrane says. Don't Miss Revealed: All the world loves a flutter "He was making the run and going flat out.

We thought; this horse can't keep going, he's got 10 stone -- top weight -- he can't keep going." But he did. "Then we start to hear this roar, from Swindly Bottom, a mile from home. You could then hear the crowd from the grandstand starting to shout -- they were just lifting him home." Among the crowd was Nick Smith, head of public relations for Ascot racecourse. "The atmosphere in the winners' enclosure was amazing. We actually had champagne for him after the sixth, and then after the seventh the whole place just erupted." hear more of Nick Smith's memories of that day » "We abused him after the race, covered him in champagne, gave him a good hiding," recalls Cochrane. "It was a great day, a great day for racing really, never mind just him." hear more from Ray Cochrane on Frankie's feat Frankie Dettori's historic win was splashed across the papers.

His multiple victories became known as the "Magnificent 7." Headlines declared Frankie "untouchable" and a "turf act to follow." "It took races off the sports pages and onto the front pages," says Robin Oakley, CNN's European Political Editor and avid racing fan. "Frankie was already a well known jockey before the Magnificent 7, but it did turn him into a household name," he says. Frankie Dettori is under no illusions as to who's to credit for his win and the fame that's followed. The horse who took him first past the post for the seventh time that day is now long retired and spends his days grazing in the grounds of Dettori's home in the traditional British racing town of Newmarket. "This is Fujiyama Crest," Dettori says, holding a feed bucket to the nose of an aging gelding. "He was owned by a Japanese owner and then after that he went into jumping but he wasn't very good." "I bought him in private and now he's our house pet. I ride him from time to time, my wife, the kids ...

but he spends most of his life in the field with the other ponies." The famous post is not far away either. "After winning the seven races and all those big races I won at Ascot I asked if I could have it, and they said yes, so after the last race of the last meeting at Ascot I took it off the ground and I put it in the horse box and I planted it here." It now has pride of place in his garden. "I'm very proud of it," he says. "It's a bit tall but it's got a meaning to it." In 2001, Ascot erected its own monument to Frankie Dettori; a lifesize bronze statue of the jockey at the entrance to the famous racecourse. more on Frankie Dettori's statue at Ascot "Every time I pass by it just reminds me what an achievement that was," he says.

BBC Sport - Horse Racing - Frankie Dettori recalls his Ascot 'Magnificent Seven' Frankie Dettori recalls his Ascot 'Magnificent Seven' Dettori is set to ride Poet's Voice in the QEII Stakes at Ascot on Saturday Queen Elizabeth II Stakes: 1615 BST, Saturday Coverage: Racing from Ascot, BBC Two and BBC Sport website, 1350-1630 Radio: Big race commentaries on BBC 5 Live By Frank Keogh Landmarks litter the year 2010 for jockey Frankie Dettori. On 1 June, it was 10 years since the plane crash which nearly claimed his life, while 15 December brings a significant birthday when the bright-eyed Italian will be a still youthful-looking 40. This weekend provides another occasion of note - the anniversary of his record-breaking "Magnificent Seven" wins at Ascot. The livewire rider stunned the sporting world by claiming all the winners on a competitive card at the accumulative odds of more than 25,000-1. Bookmakers were left broke, punters saluted a saviour, and his victorious flying dismounts helped create a new celebrity.

That was back in 1996. So does the man christened Lanfranco, but known best simply as Frankie, still relive those races in his mind? "It's my biggest feat. I won every race on the card and to do what I did will live long in the memories," Dettori tells BBC Sport as he roams a field at his home near Newmarket. "I was the first one to ever do that 14 years ago and I'm still the first one. They even moved the news." Dettori performs a flying dismount at Ascot The scheduled Saturday evening news bulletin was delayed as BBC TV cameras captured history being made and they will be back at Ascot on Saturday for a meeting where the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes - with Dettori set to ride Poet's Voice - is again the feature race. "On the day, the only thing I was concentrating on was the QEII," recalls the three-time champion jockey. "I thought my first ride of the day, on Wall Street, was my best chance and then I thought the big one was a match race between my mount Mark of Esteem and Bosra Sham." All these years on, he remembers each victory like it was yesterday.

He has ridden more than 2,500 winners in his career, but the names from 28 September 1996 roll off his tongue like old friends. "In the second I was very lucky on Diffident as I got boxed in, then I won the QEII and I was just floating. I was so happy then as Decorated Hero took the fourth and and I won easily on Fatefully in the next. "With Lochangel I realised if I win this, it would be six in a row. "I never in a million years thought I would end up winning all seven. I beat Pat Eddery in the last - he was second to me four times that day. "At the time I couldn't comprehend what I'd done. I didn't realise the impact it would have on me, the industry and everyone until the aftermath. It was just great." The seventh winner, Fujiyama Crest, provides a daily reminder to Dettori of the occasion that turned him from a rising racing star to a riding phenomenon. Now aged 18, the gelding, who held on by a neck to round off that memorable achievement, is now a Dettori family pet kept on land surrounding his home.

"It's a bit of a party trick, whenever someone comes round, to show him off," says the genial father of five. "People give him apples or whatever and the kids love him. He's just a gentle giant." I'm pretty fit, still confident in my ability and my goal is to win the next race. Frankie Dettori In the QEII Stakes on Saturday, Dettori faces a tough challenge on Poet's Voice against top milers such as last year's winner Rip Van Winkle and the 2000 Guineas victor Makfi. "Poet's Voice is an improving three-year-old but he's probably still a bit off the top horses," concedes Dettori, who rides the bulk of his big winners for the Sheikh Mohammed-backed Godolphin team. "I feel like we should take our chance and with some luck can get a place." There will be more confidence behind White Moonstone, the early ante-post favourite for the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket in 2011, who runs in the Fillies' Mile at Ascot. "She's won three races and has been very impressive.

She is very exciting and this is a big step for her," he says. But you sense the real excitement is around Saamid, favourite for the 2,000 Guineas and a potential contender for the Epsom Derby, in which Dettori famously exorcised his hoodoo at the 15th attempt on Authorized in 2007. "He's a horse I love," enthuses Dettori about the colt nicknamed Pegasus at trainer Saeed bin Suroor's yard. "He's going through the ranks really well and seems to have a very good physique. He is set to run in the Dewhurst Stakes [at Newmarket on 16 October] next." Although there are less than two months of the flat racing season to go, it builds to a fascinating climax. "After Ascot, there is Arc weekend, then Champions Day at Newmarket, the Racing Post Trophy, Melbourne Cup and Breeders' Cup," says Dettori. "The next six weeks is mouthwatering stuff.

I'm looking forward to all of them." Dettori was lucky to escape a plane crash alive in 2000 Dettori could be aboard last year's third Cavalryman in the Arc - the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - at Longchamp on 3 October. "Nothing has been decided but I have ridden in every Arc since I was 17 and I would like to continue the trend," he says. And after that landmark December birthday is celebrated in Milan, what then for the 40-year-old jockey? Dettori once questioned whether he would ride into his 40s, but now plans to carry on for a few years more despite business interests which include a restaurant partnership with chef Marco Pierre White. "I still love what I do, it's become a way of life for me now. I'd feel naked without it," he says. "I'm pretty fit, still confident in my ability and my goal is to win the next race.

"I've been lucky enough to achieve all my goals, maybe I will try to achieve some for a second time." Quite frankly, for Frankie it is all a bonus after so nearly losing his life 10 years ago in the plane crash which killed pilot Patrick Mackey. On the 10th anniversary earlier this year Dettori rang his friend Ray Cochrane, the fellow jockey and passenger who pulled him from the burning wreckage. "We were in different locations but we both happened to be having a glass of champagne at the same time. We could have been dead and raised a glass to life," reflects Dettori. "We lost my pilot. It was a terrible ordeal, a horrible thing. It was a dark day in my life and we are lucky to be here." Bookmark with: Playtech Slots - Frankie Dettori's Magic 7 Slot Review Software By : Playtech Frankie Dettori's Magic 7 Slot Review In the summer of 1996 Frankie Dettori became the first jockey to win all seven races on the card. It happened at the famous Royal Ascot racecourse in the UK and has become one of the worlds most famous days of horse racing.

To celebrate the day Playtech have released the Frankie Dettori's Magic Seven slot machine. The game uses the 5 reel, 25 line format and has a 250 coin max bet or 10 coins per pay line. You can choose from a big range of coin denominations that start at 0.01 and go as high as 5.00. This makes for a max bet range of between 2.50 and a big 1,250 per spin. Frankie himself appears on three different symbols with one of him riding, one celebrating and one smiling. The smiling Frankie is the wild symbol which substitutes for all other symbols except the scattered logos and the Bonus Track symbols. Getting five wilds on any active line pays the top line win of 7,777 coins or 77,770 if you are playing max. The game has quite a good range of mid level pays which is great to see. For example the second highest pay is 2,000 coins for five Celebrating Frankie symbols.

Then you have a 1,200 coins pay for five riding Frankie symbols, a 1,000 coin pay for four of the wilds and an 800 coin win for five of the trophies. After these pays you have two ways to hit for 250 coins and the the A, K, Q, J, and 10 symbols come in at between 125 and 80 coins for five. Overall there are a total of 37 unique winning combinations. Frankie Dettori's Magic 7 has two bonus features. The first is a pick a box style bonus that is triggered by getting a Bonus Track symbol anywhere on reels 1 and 5 at the same time. You then move to a second screen stage where you select parts of the track to reveal prizes and multipliers ( View Bonus Preview ). On each pick you can uncover instant cash prizes or a Collect symbol which ends the bonus. You get to keep picking until you either pick all wins or uncover the collect. Some picks can award a trophy which starts a video from one of the famous wins and increases the multiplier by X1. You can get a maximum multiplier on the bonus of X7.

Back on the reels you can win free spins with the scattered Frankie Dettori logos. Get three or more and you move to the Race Bonus. Here you have to pick one horse and then watch the race to see how many free spins you get ( Preview ). If your horse comes 1st, 2nd or 3rd you win 35, 15 or 10 free spins respectively. There are a couple of negative points that should be noted regarding the free spins. First there is no multiplier so the jackpot on the free spins is the same as the base game. The second negative is that the free spins cannot be re-triggered. While this factors by no means make it a bad game they are worth keeping in mind. On top of everything else, Frankie Dettori's Magic 7 also has a video poker style double up feature where you can try to increase any win. You can choose to risk all or just half of your win which is a great option in our opinion. Overall, Playtech have done a great job capturing the feel of the magnificent day in 1996.

The game offers some good jackpots and quite a few features although we would have liked to seen some sort of multipliers on the free games. Game Previews Frankie Dettori Frankie Dettori Cheltenham Frankie Dettori Frankie Dettori is one of the most popular personalities in the world of flat racing . Dettori was virtually born into a life of horse racing, and was introduced to the races by his father, Gianfranco Dettori, himself a champion jockey in Italy and 1,000 Guineas winner. Frankie Dettori began riding at the age of eight, when his father bought him a Palomino pony that he would practice on daily. At the age of 13 Dettori left school to work full time in a stable as a stable-hand before moving to England where he worked for Luca Cumani. By the age of 15 Frankie Dettori had begun working full-time as a jockey. After a year in England Dettori returned to Italy and had a good first season that saw him ride 14 winners. In 1987 Frankie Dettori won his first race in England when he won at Goodwood on Lizzy Hare.

The young jockey had to wait until 1990 to claim his first major race win, when he won the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Mark of Distinction. That season Frankie Dettori chalked up 100 race wins, becoming the youngest jockey in British flat racing history to achieve this feat. One of Frankie Dettori’s most impressive achievements came at the 1996 Royal Ascot meeting , where he made history by taking 7 Royal Ascot races in a single day beggaring the bookies who had put 6720-1 odds against him achieving a seven-race run of wins. This performance earned Frankie a massive amount of publicity and catapulted the Royal Ascot legend into stardom. Despite his successes on the track, the Royal Ascot legend has endured his fair share of mishaps and controversy. In 2000 Dettori was involved in a serious air accident which saw his chartered flight crash on route to Goodwood, killing the pilot. Dettori missed the 2000 Royal Ascot as a result of his injuries.

In 2001 Frankie Dettori was back in the saddle, and during this season chalked up his 100th Group 1 win with a Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe win in France. The next season saw him take home two Classics as he won the Oaks and the 1,000 Guineas. These Group 1 victories are celebrated by the Royal Ascot legend with a special flying dismount in the winner’s paddock. Free Bets Seven is not this bookmaker’s lucky number – Sports Journalists' Association | admin “Dettori Day”, nearly 15 years ago, delighted punters and had the bookies running for cover. Not quickly enough in the case of Gary Wiltshire, who tells his story in a new book reviewed by ANTON RIPPON On the Saturday morning of September 28, 1996, bookmaker Gary Wiltshire was driving along the M40, heading for Worcester racecourse where he had decided to pitch for the day. But a huge tailback of traffic made him change his mind. Abandoning the humble fare of a Midlands jumps meeting, Wiltshire decided to turn around and head for Ascot instead.

It was a decision that was to change his life forever. He was about to become the biggest casualty of Dettori Day. As Wiltshire set up on his lowly rails pitch, around the country, and on the course, mug punters were filling out slips for multiple bets and accumulators on some of Frankie Dettori’s seven rides at Ascot. Some fools were even placing money on Dettori to win all seven races, something that had never been done in the history of horseracing. Long, long ago, Gordon Richards and Alec Russell had each gone through a six-race card at far humbler meetings. But winning all seven races at a prestigious meeting like that Ascot Saturday? Come off it. The day started quietly for Wiltshire, who was hardly involved as Dettori won the first race, then the second, then third … and then the fourth. Suddenly interest picked up. The BBC, who had planned to show only the first four races, decided to stick with the remainder of the meeting. It was the fifth race, the Rosemary Dated Stakes, that began Wiltshire’s nightmare.

Dettori was riding a filly called Fatefully, who in the morning prices had been quoted at 9/2. But in the Ascot betting ring, the big firms were now trying to limit the damage from Dettori having ridden the first four winners. Fatefully opened at 5/2 and was well backed down to 13/8. At that point Wiltshire was £800 up on the day. Hardly big money, but modestly respectable. Now he decided to make some real money. Fatefully was being offered at less than 2/1 for what, a few hours earlier, had been a more than double those odds. Do me a favour. Wiltshire started laying bets on Fatefully. Fatefully, with Dettori on board, started at 7/4 and won by a neck. It wasn’t fear – or common sense – that prevented Wiltshire from getting involved in the sixth race. Along with everyone else, he simply fancied Dettori to win it on the 5/4 favourite, Loch Angel. In the seventh race, though, Dettori was aboard an old gelding named Fujiyama Crest.

In the morning papers, Fujiyama Crest had been generally around 12/1 and at one stage had even gone out to 20/1. But now punters around Britain were putting their money on history being made. Of course, this meant that Fujiyama Crest’s odds were tumbling. But even all that weight of money didn’t mean that the horse could run any faster. As far as Gary Wiltshire was concerned, Fujiyama Crest was still “a dog”. And laying “dogs” had long been how the jolly, fat bookmaker had made a living so comfortable that he owned a five-bedroomed house near Towcester, a cottage in Norfolk, a villa in Portugal, two Mercedes E320 convertibles, and several racehorses. The bookmaker had no problem in taking a £5,000 bet at 4/1 from fellow bookie Roy Christie. That was the start of the avalanche that was about to engulf Gary Wiltshire.

With the big bookmakers on the rails now going as low as 6/4, and the off-course bookies trying to force the price to a damage-limiting odds-on, the man who should have been having a quiet day at Worcester was still calling out 3/1 and attracting plenty of takers. It was the proverbial licence to print money. Or so he thought. Seventh heaven: Dettori, having ridden his ultimate winner at Ascot By the off, Fujiyama Crest was down to 2/1 around the course. But Wiltshire’s little pitch was where all the focus was. On that single race, he had taken almost £1 million in bets, nearly half a million of it from Coral alone, at odds varying from 7/2 to 9/4. And, of course, as we all now know, Lanfranco Dettori rode Fujiyama Crest to victory by a neck. History had indeed been made. And Gary Wiltshire had been ruined. That night, at Milton Keynes dogs, the first bet he took was from a punter who wanted £1 on a 2-1 shot. It was going to be a long way back. But back he fought.

And that was probably why, at the end of it all, he chose to write his autobiography, Winning It All Back, in which Wiltshire tells not only the full story of that fateful day at Ascot, and its blistering aftermath, but also how he came to be a bookmaker in the first place and all the roller-coaster moments of a life more full of fun and laughter than of gloom and doom. From working on a flower stall in Leather Lane market (a regular patron was “keen gardener” Violet Kray, doting mum of Ronnie and Reggie) to fame as the Bookie Who Lost A Million, Wiltshire’s story is fast and entertaining. He refers to himself as a Cockney when, in fact, he was born and raised in Islington. Of course, a cheery Cockney is a better image for a Jack-the-Lad bookie, but as Wiltshire is (cliché alert) already a larger-than-life character, there is no need for such embellishment. From the age of five or six, he could calculate odds, and all he ever wanted to do was be a bookie.

It seems to be in his blood: his paternal grandfather and his maternal grandmother both liked a daily punt. At an early age he sought counselling for a gambling addiction. He was a good young footballer, although it takes some imagination to picture the 32st “Belly From Telly” – he is a familiar face on BBC’s horseracing coverage and on Sky’s nights at the dogs programmes – as a goalkeeper once good enough to play for Islington schoolboys and attract Leyton Orient’s brief attention. After his Ascot nightmare, Wiltshire had two stark choices: walk away from his legally unenforceable gambling debts and be warned off every racecourse, his bookmaking career over; or sell everything he owned, pay off every penny, and start again. Wiltshire chose the latter course. His first port of call was to see Coral’s Trevor Beaumont, who told him, “You’ve got a good name and, if you say you will pay, then I know you will.” And he did.

Winning It All Back by Gary Wiltshire (Racing Post, £18.99) For more book reviews and news from the sports publishing business, click here UPCOMING SJA DATES Tue Apr 5: SJA Olympic Question Time. Click here to find out more Wed Apr 13: SJA 2011 Annual Meeting , at offices of UK Sport, Russell Square. Strictly SJA members only. Wed Dec 7: SJA 2011 British Sports Awards – note the date in your diary now. All details subject to alteration. Keep checking sportsjournalists.co.uk for updates Like this: Racing: The day Dettori's Magnificent Seven left the bookies in tears | The Independent More Sports Racing: The day Dettori's Magnificent Seven left the bookies in tears It is 10 years since Ascot witnessed the mug punter's revenge as Frankie Dettori rode all seven winners.

Chris McGrath recounts the joy and the despair of a unique event Friday 22 September 2006 23:00 BST Click to follow The Independent Online However briefly he seduced outsiders into his sport, on that heady day at Ascot 10 years ago, Frankie Dettori gave them a lasting lesson in its least ephemeral qualities. Imagine some other unfathomable landmark: Tiger Woods, say, shooting 18 consecutive birdies. Anyone who witnessed such a feat would marvel with a sense of communal privilege. When Dettori won all seven races on one of the most competitive cards of the year, however, it was the most intense experience not only in his own life, but many others, too. Never mind the pyramid of professional stories beneath each of those seven pinnacles - the years of patience and preparation vindicated by each horse that day. For many others to whom the day became unforgettable, 28 September, 1996 dawned with no more promise or interest than a thousand other Saturdays. Before dusk, Dettori would spin them faster and faster round his carousel, seemingly out of control, pivoting wildly round the molten fulcrum of his own instincts.

Just as Dettori, through the afternoon, gradually harnessed himself to some intuitive momentum, beyond his own skill and ambition - everyone agrees he would never have won the seventh race had it been the first - so those with fortunes at stake became helpless, stricken, sick to their stomachs. The ordinary rules of engagement between bookmaker and punter crumbled into anarchy. And, when Dettori deliriously crossed the line a seventh time, with Pat Eddery in blazing, resentful pursuit, he completed an incalculable rout. It was the Mug Punter's revenge. At 25, this effusive Italian was the natural focus of any impulsive bet. And none could be more frivolous than the blind combination of all seven of his mounts on a day such as this. True, Gordon Richards once went through a six-race card at Chepstow, part of a spree of 12 consecutive winners over three days. But this meeting at Ascot, as will be seen again today, was the sort where any jockey would settle for one winner.

As Dettori himself said that morning: "I could have an each-way chance in the first, and I may win the third." Mary Bolton was immune to such pragmatism. She and her husband, John, had come up to London from Somerset to celebrate their wedding anniversary. She was to spend the day shopping, while he went to Ascot. To give his wife an interest, John made her a present of a bet at Ladbrokes in Dover Street, Mayfair. She elected a permutation of Frankie's mounts, including a £5 each-way accumulator. "It was because of his character," Mary explained later. "All his smiling and silly nonsense when he wins." Hers was just one of dozens of similar stories, up and down the nation. Many, inevitably, were poignantly mirrored by the disabled man who combined the first six, before changing his mind and ripping up his betting slip; or by the cleaner who had 50p on each of the seven. She collected £19. Had she added a 50p accumulator, she would have won £12,047.50 at starting prices, and around £120,000 if taking the morning odds.

In turn, the difference between those two payouts would become a gripping sub-plot. Gradually, the High Street betting shop chains realised that they were horribly exposed. After Decorated Hero won the fourth, their liability managers began to sweat. After Fatefully won the next, off-duty bosses started to call in. In the starting price system, the tail wags the dog. Off-course bets are settled at the final odds in the racecourse betting ring. The shop chains protect their own position by "sending" bets into the ring, so forcing down the price about a particular horse. When Lochangel won the sixth, a £1 accumulator was worth £8,365.50. That sum would now run on to Fujiyama Crest, the animal happily innocent of his role in the drama developing around the final race. He had been available at 12-1 in the morning. Those who had lacked the prescience to take those odds would have their bets settled at starting price. For the off-course market, it was imperative to crush the odds against Fujiyama Crest. And then something unaccountable happened. The mechanics of the system, a daily reflex of market forces, suddenly broke down.

Bookmakers in the ring realised that they could lay 2-1 against a horse whose chance in reality was closer to 12-1. And flesh and blood took over. Instead of meekly cutting the odds lower still, they laid Fujiyama Crest for every penny they had, or thought they might have, if they sold their houses, cars and dependents. That stand immeasurably raised the stakes on Fujiyama Crest. Barry Dennis, the egregious ring bookmaker, laid the horse to lose £23,000. During the previous 30 years, his biggest loss in one day had been £5,000. Even watching the race, he remained convinced he had done the right thing. As Dettori made the running, he waited for the inevitable challenges. He told Graham Sharpe, author of The Magnificent Seven, what was going through his mind: "Don't panic, something is coming on the outside - this is going to beat him. I knew he couldn't ride all seven, it isn't possible. Half a furlong out - I do not know the challenger but he simply must get up. Twenty yards to go.

Reality - it is not going to get up. Frankie's done it. I stood on my stool, staring, not hearing a thing, in a trance." Dennis drove home in silence, his staff too frightened to speak. When he got home, his wife greeted him cheerily. "Hello darling," she said. "Good day?" Dennis told her Dettori had ridden all seven winners. " Fantastic!" she said. "What a great achievement." Dennis collapsed into a chair, sobbing. And he had got away lightly, compared with some. Gary Wiltshire went on to Milton Keynes greyhounds facing liabilities of £800,000. "The first bet I took was a pound," he said. "It was going to be a long way back." Ladbrokes had inoculated themselves against such unpredictable dramas with a maximum payout of £500,000. The Boltons were due £900,000, but were not too despondent, having initially persuaded themselves that they had won only £300,000.

Fred Done flashed a message on to his betting shop screens: "Reward, dead or alive: good-looking Italian kid, last seen in Ascot area." At the precise moment when Fujiyama Crest passed the post, the clock stopped in a north London betting shop. The proprietor never changed it. He does not need anniversaries to remind him what happened that day. The Magnificent Seven Where are they now? By Sue Montgomery * WALL STREET Odds 2-1 A three-year-old when winning the Cumberland Lodge Stakes, he is the only one of the seven not still alive. He raced once more, when eighth in the Breeders' Cup Turf, but died after a suffering a bout of colic in Dubai that winter. * DIFFIDENT Odds 12-1 The Diadem Stakes was the best of Diffident's seven wins and at the age of 14, the son of Nureyev is now a star stallion in India. He stands at the Poonawalla Stud, at Pune, where he has sired local Guineas and Oaks winners.

* MARK OF ESTEEM Odds 100-30 Mark Of Esteem's defeat of Bosra Sham in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes made him the best in Europe that year. Now 13, the Darshaan horse has made an excellent fist of his second career at Darley Stud, sire of this year's Derby winner Sir Percy and top sprinter Reverence. * DECORATED HERO Odds 7-1 Decorated Hero carried top weight of 9st 13lb in the Tote Festival Handicap. The Warning gelding, now 14, raced for two more seasons - winning 14 of his 33 races - before finding a home at the British Racing School in Newmarket, where he helps teach aspiring Dettoris. * FATEFULLY Odds 7-4 After taking the Rosemary Stakes, Fatefully won once more and is now a broodmare for Gainsborough Stud. She has produced six foals, including Nassau Stakes winner Favourable Terms. Now 13, she is pregnant to Selkirk.

* LOCHANGEL Odds 5-4 Lochangel scored her maiden two-year-old victory in the Blue Seal Stakes and went on to win the Nunthorpe Stakes at four. The daughter of Night Shift has not been as good as a producer for Littleton Stud, with one minor winner. She is due to Danehill Dancer. * FUJIYAMA CREST Odds 2-1 Fujiyama Crest had a chequered career after winning the Gordon Carter Handicap, descending to claiming company after several changes of stable. The 14-year-old gelding, whose eight wins included one over hurdles, is now happily retired as the Dettori family pet. '9-4 Fujiyama and 9-4 me for the Job Centre' Gary Wiltshire: The Bookie A hulk of a man, this on-course bookmaker faced several lean years after taking a dauntless stand against a flood of money from betting shop chains for Dettori's seventh mount, Fujiyama Crest. Wiltshire stood next to his pitch on the rails and bellowed: "9-4 Fujiyama!

And 9-4 me for the Job Centre!" Later, he explained: "The odds were miles wrong. I was laying 2-1 about a horse I made a 10-1 shot." He faced ruin, owing over £800,000. He sold his house and cars and scraped money together selling Christmas paper in Oxford Street. After that he " worked every hour God made", betting at six race meetings and six dog tracks every week, and "settled every bet". He vows he would do the same again. Darren Yates: The Punter His joinery business in Morecombe, Lancashire, was in trouble, and his wife had insisted that he end his compulsive habit of backing Dettori. Yates had reluctantly agreed, but secretly staked £67.58 in combining all seven of Dettori's mounts. Yates spent much of the afternoon playing centre-half for his local football team. After a 4-0 hiding, he popped into the pub and discovered that Dettori had won the first four races. By the end of the afternoon, he had won £550,000.

In a good week Yates earned £300, and had just been refused a building society loan. He had feared that he would have to lay off his six staff. He has since doubled the size of his business and moved house. Magnificent Seven: How Frankie Dettori Achieved the Impossible by Graham Sharpe published by Aurum at £7.99. ISBN 978 1 84513 162 3 Richard Hughes 'over the moon' to equal Frankie Dettori record with seven victories at Windsor - Telegraph Horse Racing Richard Hughes 'over the moon' to equal Frankie Dettori record with seven victories at Windsor A year ago on Monday, Richard Hughes threatened to quit the saddle after being handed a 15-day ban for breaking controversial new whip rules. Seven up: Richard Hughes celebrates his achievement at Windsor Photo: GAVIN JAMES By HOTSPUR (JA McGrath) 9:22AM BST 16 Oct 2012 He stepped down in protest and refused to ride at the inaugural Qipco British Champions Day at Ascot. But, 12 months on it was a very different story.

Remarkably, Hughes, 39, who is so far ahead in the jockeys’ title race that he could stop now and still be crowned champion, rode seven winners on an eight-race card at Windsor in the most sustained display of skill and finesse on one afternoon since Frankie Dettori won all seven races at Ascot in Sept 1996. While a statue of Dettori was erected at Ascot to commemorate the Italian’s 'Magnificent Seven’, it remains to be seen what Windsor come up with, though it is unlikely to be financed by bookmakers, who were claiming last night that Hughes had cost them many millions on what had appeared, in prospect, a relatively harmless, mundane Monday. The accumulative odds of his seven winners were 10,168-1. In 1996, Dettori’s 25,095-1 Ascot accumulator was reported to have ruined some bookmakers. “I’m over the moon,” Hughes said. “Windsor is my lucky track, and this is a great day.

I wouldn’t have any of this if not for Richard Hannon,” he added in gratitude to his father-in-law, the trainer, who supplied him with three of his winners on Monday, namely Pivotal Movement, who carried the colours of Sir Alex Ferguson, East Texas Red, and the determined Duke Of Clarence. Hughes’s other winners were the Amanda Perrett-trained Embankment in the colours of Khalid Abdulla, the Jeremy Gask-trained Magic Secret, Dean Ivory’s Links Drive Lady, and the William Haggas-trained Mama Quilla in the finale. Mama Quilla had been listed as one of Ryan Moore’s rides, but the former champion gave up the mount to Hughes, who has the same agent, Tony Hind. “Ryan’s one of my greatest friends,” Hughes said. Related Articles

Question: On which racecourse did Frankie Dettori win all seven races on the card in 1996?
Answer: ASCOT