Frankie Dettori to miss York’s Ebor meeting after opting to ride in France this weekend

Frankie Dettori admits he is ‘gutted’ to be missing next week’s four-day Ebor meeting at York while he quarantines after deciding to ride in France on Saturday and Sunday.

Despite new Covid-19 travel rules being imposed by the Government from 4am on Saturday morning, Dettori opted to go to Deauville.

Principally, he has gone to ride French Derby winner Mishriff in Saturday’s Group Two Prix Guillaume D’Ornano and St James’s Palace Stakes winner Palace Pier in Sunday’s Group One Prix Jacques Le Marois for his boss John Gosden.

When he returns on Monday the 49-year-old Italian will have to go in quarantine for 14 days although he could reduce that period by having two negative tests within a week under elite athlete exemption guidelines.

Dettori will miss the ride on Lord North in Wednesday’s Group One Juddmonte International Stakes but said the fact Enable and Stradivarius, the two most important horses he is currently associated with, miss the Ebor meeting made the decision to sacrifice the fixture easier.

Dettori, who drove to France on Friday, said: ‘When I heard the Government announcement on Thursday evening I nearly choked on my glass of wine. It was a very hard decision — I am potentially missing two weeks’ work — but I had a chat with John and we decided it was the best thing to do. I have two very good rides and the prize money in France is currently a lot better than in Britain.’

It was announced earlier this week that Enable will use the September Stakes at Kempton as her prep-race ahead of her bid to win a fourth Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in October, rather than attempting to win Thursday’s Yorkshire Oaks for a third time.

James Doyle now rides Lord North in the International Stakes, as he did when the gelding won the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot. The 14 entries are headed by Eclipse Stakes winner Ghaiyyath.