John Gosden and Frankie Dettori, who have enjoyed a highly successful partnership on the Flat since the spring of 2015, announced on Friday night they have agreed to “take a sabbatical” by mutual consent following “an amicable meeting” at the trainer’s Clarehaven stable in Newmarket.
Related: ‘We’re in the dark’: Frankie Dettori loses rides for Gosdens amid talk of split
The trainer will instead continue without an official No 1 rider. In a statement following Friday’s meeting, Gosden said: “Following speculation in the press, Frankie and I have amicably decided to take a sabbatical from the trainer/jockey relationship but we remain the closest of friends and colleagues.
“Frankie has been - and always will be - one of the family here so I wanted to meet face-to-face after he returned from his post-Ascot holiday. Frankie is the most superb international jockey and together we have achieved significant successes at various times over the last three decades with a number of horses including, most recently, Golden Horn, Enable, Palace Pier, Too Darn Hot and Stradivarius. I do not intend to appoint a stable jockey at Clarehaven.”
Rumours that Dettori’s seven-year spell as Gosden’s main jockey might be over have been circulating since Royal Ascot last week, and their intensity increased when the stable booked James Doyle and Robert Havlin for its two runners at Newmarket on Saturday.
Gosden suggested that Dettori had “overcomplicated” his ride on Stradivarius, who was chasing a record-equalling fourth success in the Royal meeting’s showpiece event.
He also told reporters on Friday that the Queen’s colt Saga, who was beaten by a fast-diminishing head after Dettori was forced to wait for running room inside the final
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