Dettori Suspended for Melbourne Cup Ride

High-profile owner Nick Williams described himself as "shattered" for Frankie Dettori after the jockey was suspended for nine meetings and his mount, Master of Reality, demoted to fourth from second in the Nov. 5 Lexus Melbourne Cup (G1) at Flemington, won by the Craig Williams-ridden Vow And Declare.

Dettori, who was booked for the ride on Joseph O'Brien's Master of Reality after his excellent third behind Stradivarius in the Gold Cup (G1) at Royal Ascot, was found guilty of careless riding after stewards objected to interference between the initial runner-up and fourth, the Aidan O'Brien-trained Il Paradiso.

That objection led to a stewards' inquiry involving Master of Reality and Il Paradiso, with the latter's rider, Wayne Lordan, not critical of Dettori's riding. Yet stewards felt the interference was sufficient enough to alter the placings, promoting Prince of Arran to second from third and Il Paradiso to third from fourth.

A subsequent inquiry led to Dettori, set for a month's riding stint in Japan, pleading guilty to careless riding and suspended until Nov. 14.

Dettori was an exasperated figure after being narrowly denied in Australia's most high-profile race. He was hugged by Joseph O'Brien and Nick Williams in the winner's enclosure in the immediate aftermath and said, "I want to cry" before heading back to the weighing room.

Williams said: "I'm shattered for Frankie as he's so determined to win this race. He gave our horse every chance, and nothing would have been better than to win the Melbourne Cup with Frankie, who is the world's best for a reason.

"Sometimes you win, sometimes you don't, and that's racing.

"Master of Reality is a proper two-mile horse and has done a great job for us. Without winning a big race, he has certainly given us some thrills."

Dettori finished second twice previously in the Flemington feature aboard Central Park in 1999 and Max Dynamite in 2015, and Joseph O'Brien sympathized with the star jockey, who was suspended for a month and fined AU$20,000 ($13,790) for his ride on the Willie Mullins-trained runner-up four years ago.

He said: "I'm more gutted for Frankie than I am for myself. I'll be back next year, but I don't know if Frankie is ever going to win this race."

Dettori described the interference between Master of Reality and Il Paradiso as "very minimal."

He said: "Master of Reality was looking for company and went left, but I had both hands on my reins and corrected him. Perhaps I could have corrected him a stride earlier, but it was very minimal interference."

Lordan, successful aboard Iridessa for Joseph O'Brien in the Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T) Nov. 2, shared a similar view to Dettori.

He told stewards: "I came from a long way back, and Frankie's horse was getting tired. I didn't have to stop riding and it was very close to the line, so I'm not sure how much difference it made."