Brian O'Connorlooks at the career of one of the most successful and popular jockeys around

As one might expect from racing's greatest showman, Frankie Dettori is centre stage to bring the house down in racing's greatest show, today's Vodafone Epsom Derby.

Normally, the world's most prestigious flat race throws up a myriad of colourful story lines. From kings and queens to the desperate and crooked, the Derby has been a conduit for hundreds of years of history. And that's not even taking account of the horses.

But anyone thinking of an attempt at grabbing the headlines today would do well just to sit back and indulge in a chill pill. Derby 2007 is about only one man and his horse. All it needs is for Authorized to win and Epsom, and the sport, gets its perfect ending.

If that perfect finale does occur, then, to use the cliché, there won't be a dry eye in the house. And if that teeters dangerously towards schmaltz, then it only fits in more with the exuberant showbiz that Dettori brings to the party.

It may seem odd for the spiritual home of the stiff-upper-lip to have embraced a 36-year-old Italian exhibitionist so warmly, but that is exactly what Britain has done. And not just Britain: in Ireland, too, and for much of the racing world, Dettori is the sport's most recognisable face.

A first Derby will result in almost universal delight and maybe the highest flying dismount ever recorded.

The last time there was this kind of widespread desire for a jockey to win the race came in 1953 when Gordon Richards eventually won on Pinza after 28 failures.

Dettori, in contrast, is coming in on a "mere" losing streak of 14. Most every other major European prize has been won, usually more than once. All he needs for the full set is the most important of all.

Typically, Dettori has presented his Derby obsession to the world with uncomplicated openness. He wants it very badly indeed, and says so. He has never been one to hide his emotions in the style of Piggott, Eddery & Co. The result will be a tidal wave of goodwill this afternoon.

As a son of a champion jockey, Gianfranco, and a trapeze artist, Mara, Dettori's ability to combine horsemanship with entertainment cannot be a total surprise.

There is certainly nothing forced about the gregariousness that has charmed the wider public since that famous, seven-out-of-seven at Ascot in 1996. Dettori really is as full of brio as it appears. But that can also hide the steel underneath that has propelled him to the pinnacle of one of the toughest professions in sport.

That innate willpower had to be there for a 14-year-old to survive leaving an admittedly unstable home life in Milan and find his feet in the cold winter depths of Newmarket in 1985.

Gianfranco Dettori, a self-taught rider who became Italy's champion jockey 13 times and also won British and Irish classics in the 1970s, was a hard task-master. If his son wanted to be a jockey, he would take no privileged path.

As well as developing a distinctive Cockney-Italian accent, it quickly became apparent at Luca Cumani's yard that Lanfranco Dettori was prodigiously talented. He rode his first winner in Turin at just 16. At 19, he claimed his first Group One winner and looked a champion in the making.

Winters in the US developed his distinctive, crouched riding style, and it was there he witnessed first-hand the flying dismount first used by one of his heroes, Angel Cordero.

But then came the first major stumble of his career.

Full of the confidence of youth, Dettori's relationship with Cumani started to sour and the jockey accepted a lucrative contract to ride in Hong Kong. But that was blown out of the water in 1993 by a caution for possession of cocaine. Many speculated it wasn't just the contract that had been torpedoed.

It was then that the real depth behind the big smile emerged. Starting on New Year's Day of 1994, Dettori rode at every meeting possible around Britain and wound up the year as champion jockey for the first time.

With that came a formal association with Sheikh Mohammed that has taken him to the pinnacle of the sport with the Godolphin operation, and the general acknowledgement that he is one of the world's best jockeys for the last decade.

"You look at the Kinanes, the Yves Saint Martins, the Piggotts, and Dettori is as good as any of them," says veteran Curragh trainer Kevin Prendergast, who has seen and employed the best around for the last 50 years.

"Right now I would say it is between him and Kinane as to who is the best around. It's very hard to choose between them. Dettori has great balance and a great mind. He rises to the big occasion."

There were none bigger than September of 1996 when he famously went through the card at Ascot. The seven-out-of-seven was remarkable in itself. Even more remarkable is that it came on one of the most valuable afternoons of the racing year.

In PR terms, Dettori has skilfully marketed that feat to turn himself into a product. He may no longer be a Question of Sport captain, but a London restaurant that he owns along with chef Marco Pierre White, as well many other commercial ventures, means that riding has not been a financial imperative for some time.

That he truly loves the sport, though, was obvious in the way he returned to action after a plane crash in 2000 which left a pilot dead, and which Dettori escaped only by being pulled from the burning wreckage by his friend and now agent, Ray Cochrane.

That return was crowned by another jockey's title in 2004, and although Godolphin have been going through a big-race drought in recent years, Dettori remains the "go-to" jockey for many trainers when he is available.

Peter Chapple-Hyam and Authorized's owners didn't hesitate to book him for the Derby once it became obvious Godolphin didn't have a major contender. That frustrating Derby record didn't cause a moment's hesitation.

"Those 14 losers mean nothing. If you're not on a horse with a live chance, there's nothing you can do. Look back at those 14 and I'll bet you he didn't have half a dozen decent rides," says the former Irish champion jockey Christy Roche, who won possibly the most dramatic Derby of all when Secreto edged out El Gran Senor in 1984.

"Frankie is right up there with the very best. He's one of the great jockeys. When you get to that level, you're only splitting hairs about who's the best. But he is one of them," Roche adds.

"You also have to remember he has brought forward a whole different style of riding. And he is a different sort of character. He has done so much for racing that way."

As a result, there is a sense that a Derby success would be no than Dettori is due. But the jockey knows better than anyone there are no entitlements around Epsom.

Recently he has indicated that his long-stated desire to retire at 40 is not set in stone. He reckons 45 is more realistic now.

Such a change must at least have something to do with wanting to secure that elusive Derby victory. It's also another indication that behind the fun is a hugely determined character.

One thing is certain: Authorized will not want for determination from the saddle today.

Name: Lanfranco Dettori

Born: Milan, December 15th, 1970.

First Winner: Rif, in Turin on November 16th, 1986.

Champion Apprentice: 1989.

First Group One: Markofdistinction in 1990 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.

Champion Jockey: 1994, 1995 and 2004.

Lives: Cambridgeshire, with wife, Catherine, and children Leo, Ella, Mia, Tallulah and Rocco.

British Classic record

1,000 Guineas (2): Cape Verdi (1998) and Kazzia (2002).

2,000 Guineas (2): Mark Of Esteem (1996) and Island Sands (1999).

Oaks (3): Balanchine (1994), Moonshell (1995) and Kazzia (2002).

St Leger (4): Classic Cliché (1995), Shantou (1996), Scorpion (2005) and Sixties Icon (2006).

Best Derby Placings: Tamure (2nd in 1995), Shantou (3rd 1996), Tobougg (3rd 2001), Dubawi (3rd 2005).