Dettori documentary "is genuinely unsettling viewing at times"

Dettori, the documentary movie is released on Monday, by Dazzler Films, to selected cinemas and on Blu-ray, DVD and Download-to-Own.

Racingtv.com has five copies to give away on DVD/Blu-ray to the first five people out of the hat who have correctly emailed [email protected] before the end of Tuesday November 16 with their address and the year in which Frankie Dettori won his first British Classic - usual Racing TV competition rules apply.

But what did our intrepid reviewer, Will Hayler, make of the film when he went to a preview screening last week. Find out below...

This is a film for the fans. If you've watched as many as me, you'll know that plenty of films featuring racing are generously loaded with cringe moments when footage is inexpertly stitched together, or when - in true Scooby-doo style - the all-important stretch run seems to go on forever, the field passing the furlong-pole, only to be transported seconds later back further away from the winning post with a change of angle designed to extend the tension. No such issues here.

I haven't the foggiest who worked on assembling some of the beautiful footage that peppers this 85-minute epic, but they know their racing. Some of Frankie Dettori's finest moments, including those not seen for some time, appear from start to finish, and the musical arrangements (invariably from the great Italian composers) that accompany several are both respectful to the racing action and enhance the enjoyment.

It's not all about the racing though. While it would be wrong to describe the film as being warts-and-all (some of Dettori's least edifying career moments are dealt with fairly briefly), there is an unexpected reoccuring theme from start to finish in the jockey's scarred relationship with his father and fellow champion jockey Gianfranco.

It's genuinely unsettling viewing at times to watch and understand the repercussions for those who have been caught up in their complicated crossfire. Dettori's inability to ever be able to live up to his father's expectations is laid bare. At his lowest, he seems frankly haunted.

Unsurprisingly, the joy of the 'Magnificent Seven' gets a good airing, as does the plane crash in 2000 that Dettori and Ray Cochrane survived, but pilot Patrick Mackey did not. Dettori probably doesn't have time to sit and reflect upon that day very often. The tears that come when he does are not staged for the camera.

Of course, that both of the above incidents are so well previously documented doesn't make it easy for this film. It's not as if the title subject has been in hiding for the last three decades. It seems only about five minutes ago that he brought out another autobiography.

So it's therefore perhaps not a big surprise that some of the joy of Dettori comes from the less obvious: The obsession with a pigeon that ends up flying around his kitchen and keeps coming back; his excitement from watching the All-weather card at Newcastle that saw racing return after 76 blank days in Britain during the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020.

Entertainment is an essential element to Frankie Dettori, man and brand. In that respect, racing fans will not find this a disappointing experience. His teeth sparkle, his kitchen is bigger than my whole house and he appears to have a small zoo in his garden, but this isn't all sickly-sweet.