The Arc has been my Holy Grail – and I have memories that will last a lifetime

Sunday will be my last time riding at Longchamp and I will have my 33rd and final ride in the Qatar Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe on Free Wind.

My last ride at the track will be on Kinross in the Prix de La Forêt and I hope I can rely on him to see me depart on a winner even if the ground is a little quick for him.

Of course I will be a bit sad – it’s my favourite racecourse after Ascot and I’ve won all the big races on Arc weekend multiple times. Longchamp on Arc day – the atmosphere there gives me goosebumps.

Free Wind is a good five-year-old mare. I’m very happy with her draw in stall three because the race looks like being tactical and a low draw is always advantageous in those circumstances.

So many times in the last 10 years I’ve been to the Arc on a favourite, it’s been nerve-racking, I’ve not been sleeping, I’ve had butterflies, I’ve been irritable, irritating and snappy. This time I’m going to go out and enjoy it, there’s no pressure and I’m going to soak it up, a policy which has worked well this summer.

I’m under no illusions though. There are six in the betting shorter than her and, as yet, she is not a Group One winner. She’s a bit short on ratings, she is 20-1 for a reason and, having ridden in 32 Arcs, I know you need a Classic winner so I am not going to hype her up. But she deserves to be there. I can’t see her winning but if it happens I’ll happily take it.

There are a lot of hold-up horses in the race and I, personally, cannot see where the pace is coming from but Free Wind usually jumps very slowly so I’ll have to take my medicine. If I can settle in a mid position I’ll be happy but I suspect I’ll be further back – that’s just the way it is – and if there is no pace that is not ideal.

The Arc has been a great race for me. I had my first ride in it, aged 17, on Roushayd, a pacemaker for the Aga Khan’s Derby winner Kahyasi and I’ve ridden in it every year since apart from when I broke my leg four days before Treve won in 2013 and last year when Love was a last-minute non-runner.

Winning my first one on Lammtarra in 1995 was one of the biggest thrills of my career. When I was a child growing up in Italy, the only three foreign races ever shown on television were the Derby, King George and Arc. It was a race from Mars as far as I was concerned.

Lammtarra doesn’t get too many mentions in my list of great horses because he only ran four times, won four times and I only rode him in the King George and Arc after which he was retired on the spot. He wasn’t blessed with a turn of foot but he was like Marvin Hagler, he’d grind his rivals down. I set sail at the top of the straight and, by the time Olivier Peslier got to me on Freedom Cry, he had nothing left.

In 2001 Sakhee did a monster piece of work 10 days before the race. Saeed [Bin Suroor], Simon [Crisford – then Godolphin racing manager] and myself all had our jaws on the floor – we’d never seen anything like it. I rang my dad and said: ‘Get a ticket to Paris, he’ll s--- in.’ 

‘Don’t jinx it,’ he said and I said: ‘The only way I’ll jinx it is if I fall off!’

I was so excited I was in the sauna at 11.00 and the first person to come in was Dominic Beouff who was riding the second favourite. I said: ‘Don’t bother – you won’t see which way I’ve gone.’ When I went past the leader at the top of the straight I just said, ‘See you later’ and won by six lengths.

A year later Marienbard came from a nice victory in Germany. I fancied him to run well but not win but we were blessed with a good draw and a bit of luck. Sulamani should have won and in another 20 yards he would have done.

I then had a quiet spell until Golden Horn came along in 2015. That was probably the best ride I ever gave a horse in my whole career. Drawn wide, I stayed out wide early and did something from outside the box which no one had done before.

It won the race for me and there was a lot of karma. A lot had been made of me not riding Treve the year before and she was trying to win it for the third time so it was very sweet beating her and it was my first year back riding for John Gosden.

Then Enable came along. She’d won the Oaks, Irish Oaks, King George and Yorkshire Oaks all by about five lengths. The race was at Chantilly in 2017 and going past the Riding School she was dragging me out of the saddle. That was her best performance.

The next year, back at Longchamp, she’d had a temperature prior to the race and had only had one start. I kicked three clear two out, all of a sudden the tank emptied and she just hung on from Sea of Class.

She should really have won three. Ghaiyyath had opened up a big lead and I went after him too soon which set it up for Waldgiest who just outstayed me in 2019. Not such a great memory but I have plenty of them in the Arc.‌

Frankie Dettori is an ambassador for Howden Insurance.