The sports leading jockey and all around advert for horse racing Frankie Dettori has been in electric form all season and has now landed his 12th Group 1 of the season with there still plenty of time for him to add to that.
In his 33 years in the sport the 49 year old has never had a season quite like this having this many black type victories at the start of August and his 12th came on Sunday courtesy of the Martyn Meade trained Advertise landing the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville in France.
Advertise and Dettori came under severe pressure towards the line from other British raiders Brando and Space Blues but had enough in the tank to get to the line first and land the three year olds third Group 1 victory of his career.
12 Group 1s since the end of May for @FrankieDettori! Advertise shows guts and class to win the Larc Prix Maurice de Gheest for @MMeadeRacing at @fgdeauville! pic.twitter.com/CS9JLRPhaL
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) August 4, 2019
(Credit Racing Post) Frankie Dettori said: "I was able to slot in behind Pretty Pollyanna and at the two furlong marker I had to take a pull because he idles a little bit when he gets to the front.
"When I saw the others coming at the 300 [metre mark] I had to kick and he showed a good turn of foot. He was just idling a bit but when he felt Brando coming, he took off again.
"I was alone for a long while so that was a danger because I was there to be shot at. But he came here in tremendous form and he's a tough horse, he doesn't know how to run a bad race."
Advertise was a superb two year old and looks to be an even better three year old after this win with his trainer Martyn Meade thinking he was very unlucky not have another black type victory to his name after losing out to Ten Sovereigns in the July Cup at Newmarket.
Dettori holds a different view and says: "We can look at it every which way but I wasn't gaining on Ten Sovereigns, he was going away," the jockey said.
"The ground was very quick but on that day Ten Sovereigns was unbeatable. This guy is solid, three Group 1s he's won and he always runs his race. It's great for Martyn and everyone."
Martyn Meade does not train a huge amount of horses anymore but always seems to get the best out of them like with Advertise and his recent new recruit Houtzen who was a superb second to Battaash in the Group Qatar King George Stakes at Glorious Goodwood.
The trainer will now have to decide what to do with his stable star with plenty of good options to go for coming towards the end of the flat season.
(Credit Racing Post) "He's done everything he needs to do," said Meade.
"You have to always finish on a high so I'm going to be pretty positive where I put him next time. I'm not going to throw him in just for the chance, we're not just in it for the prize-money but to actually make a really nice stallion and I think he's proving that’s what he really is."
Dettori was has been trying to persuade the handler in to head for the Haydock Sprint Cup and the Qipco Champions Sprint but Meade is still yet to make his decision.
"He might run once or twice more, maybe we could come back to France on Arc day for the Foret," said Meade.
"I think he has to be up there as the best I've trained so far. We've only been at this for a relatively short period of time and we’ve just been really lucky we've had two or three really really nice horses. Long may it continue, we could be rustling in the bottom drawer looking for the next one."