Frankie Dettori steers Golden Horn to exhilarating Derby victory

The second came when Frankie Dettori let rip the million megawatt smile as he passed the post.

Two years ago Dettori had cut a less certain figure. Then he was returning following a six-month drug ban and a split from Godolphin that had left his future in doubt. Now he returned as master of all he surveyed.

The focus for this year's Derby had narrowed to a strip of turf measuring roughly 340 yards which represented the extra distance that Golden Horn would have to cover.

Stamina concerns were why Golden Horn's, owner Anthony Oppenheimer, had initially been reluctant to run the colt, not even entering him as a yearling an instead paying £75,000 for a supplementary entry last Monday.

Golden Horn had shown no signs of stopping over ten and a half furlongs when he had won the Dante Stakes at York last month but, from there, he would be galloping into an unknown territory.

He galloped through that in a style that separates the best from the rest to win by three and a half lengths and stamp himself unequivocally as the best of his generation.

The first question of the day to be answered was whether his stable companion, Jack Hobbs, would be galloping at all. John Gosden, their trainer, walked the course before racing and decided that Jack Hobbs would take his chance despite the ground having turned to good to firm but not Romsdal, which reduced the field for the other Group One race on the card, the Investec Coronation Cup, to just four runners.

The race was expected to be dominated by the two French-trained runners, Dolniya and Flintshire, who had fought out the finish of the Group One Sheema Classic at Maydan in March. And that scenario was playing out a furlong out with Dolniya leading and Flintshire set to pounce.

Then Pether's Moon, ridden by 37-year-old journeyman Pat Dobbs, rewrote the script. John Manley, the owner of Pether's Moon, had opted to replace Richard Hughes, the champion jockey, with Dobbs and he rose to the occasion, bringing Pether's Moon between the French runners to beat Dolniya by a neck.

The chances of a French-trained winner of the Derby improved when the sometimes recalcitrant consented to be loaded into the stalls.

When they opened Elm Park and Hans Holbein seemed to be engaged in a private race to see who would be the first to the top of Tattenham Hill, which became a solo run once Andrea Atzeni had cajoled Elm Park into saving at least some of his reserves for the second half of the race.

Dettori had already managed that with Golden Horn, who had been a bit free in the first furlong. But, by the time the field hurtled around Tattenham Corner, Dettori was wondering whether his horse had relaxed just too much.

Hans Holbien was still leading at the three-furlong pole as Epicuris, Elm Park and Storm The Stars closed. Behind them Jack Hobbs was releasing the power of that ground-devouring stride for William Buick to lead with two furlongs to run while Golden Horn was still in about seventh place.

Dettori had been there before, when Authorized cut through the field in 2007 and the result was a carbon copy once Golden Horn hit the front entering that final furlong. The stamina doubts were left behind as easily as the other runners, with Jack Hobbs staying on for a stable one-two and Storm The Stars confirming the faith of his trainer, William Haggis, to take third.

Dettori wears a St Christopher medal on his riding helmet but there had been no need of such divine intervention as the Italian savoured what was the resurrection moment of his career. He said: "It's unbelievable. I still can't believe that I have won the Derby again. What a feeling, what a feeling. Fantastic."

Having performed the obligatory flying dismount, Dettori attempted to put the kaleidoscope of thoughts that were cascading through his mind into words. "I knew this was a good horse, it was up to me to mess it up and everything went right," he said. "It was brilliant, the horse was magnificent. I was just a passenger. He flew into the last bit, it was good.

"He hit a flat spot and I thought 'my God, never mind staying, I can't get him going' and then, once he found top gear, that was it, he was off. It was a brilliant feeling and I had to pinch myself, I couldn't believe it. I was about to say this is better than sex but my wife won't like it. But it's just as good."

Gosden, who had trained Benny The Dip to win the Derby in 1997, cut a somewhat more composed figure - even after Dettori had finished hugging and kissing him. "The last thing I said to him was 'ride a cool race' and he did just that. He waited and waited."

The wait of eight years between drinks from the Derby chalice had been long enough for Dettori but now he was 44 going on about 24. "I've had a colourful life and I'm not finished yet," he said, unleashing that flashing smile once more.

And more power to him.