Ramifications of the Covid-19 pandemic continue to effect horse racing worldwide. The latest is Frankie Dettori who will ride at Deauville this Sunday which due to quarantine regulations will force him to miss the prestigious Ebor Festival at York.
Frankie Dettori will ride Mishriff and Palace Pier in France for trainer John Gosden. These two have been pointing to their respective Deauville starts and the plan was always for Frankie to ride them. With other riders opting to stay in the UK and ride the Ebor Festival at York, and Ryan Moore serving his suspension from the Glorious Goodwood meet Frankie picked up some additional calls which include riding for Aidan O’ Brien as well. Dettori picked up Laburnum in the Prix Minerve and Christophe Soumillion picked up Circus Maximus in the Prix de Jacques Le Marois.
The BHA outlined on Friday that any racing professional traveling to France could attempt to reduce their quarantine period to seven days by undergoing two Covid-19 tests on their return. Without the additional testing the quarantine is 14 days.
Dettori’s decision to ride the John Gosden trained pair means he misses the ride on Lord North, winner of the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot, in Wednesday’s Group 1 Juddmonte International, for which he is 4-1 second choice behind favorite Ghaiyyath.
John Gosden had this to say on the Deauville trip:
“Frankie will ride both Mishriff and Palace Pier at Deauville this weekend. Obviously it’s not ideal with the 14-day quarantine coming in and it means he’ll miss York, but these horses have been targeted at these races for some time and he was keen to ride them. The main ride he’ll miss is Lord North in the Juddmonte but we thought it was worth doing.”
Here in the US riders also face the decision to be on the grounds at Churchill Downs early to ride the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby cards which could cause them to miss the last days of Saratoga and Del Mar.
