FRANKIE DETTORI yesterday admitted to a feeling of "emptiness after achieving his ambition of riding all seven winners on the first day's card at Ascot's Festival of Racing on September 28th.

Speaking on Radio 5 Live, the jockey said: "I had this kind of feeling of emptiness when I went home that day because, usually, when I come home from a race meeting, there are always one or two races were you think `well if I did this or that perhaps I could have changed things a little bit'. But it was the only day in my career when I did everything perfect so I felt, really, kind of empty, I didn't know what to think."

Detorri's new ambition is to win the Derby. "At the end of the day, if I don't win the Derby in my career I'm not going to kill myself but it's the race that is missing in my record and it's probably the race I would most want to win right now.

Dettori spoke of living in the shadow of his father, the Italian champion jockey Gianfranco Dettori, as a youngster. "I was very overshadowed by my dad's doings and it's funny but it wasn't until I left home at 14 that my real character, my real personality came up and in a way I look back and think if had I stayed at home would I be in this position now.

"And I would say no because my parents were so intimidating and so strong that I don't think I would have ever been able to come out of my shell."

When Dettori left home he went to England under the wing of Newmarket trainer and fellow Italian, Luca Cumani. The exchampion admits Cumani taught him a lot about racing in his eight years at the Bedford House yard.

"I owe a lot to him, he took time to teach me a lot of things, discipline, riding." But it was a relationship which was to turn sour I was having some success and obviously me and him too couldn't handle the situation and the riding wasn't my number one priority anymore. I was getting a little bit of money. I was getting a little bit successful and I just went off the rails."

Going off the rails led to a brush with the law for the young Dettori. "It's common knowledge that four years ago I got caught by the police and I had a small quantity of cocaine I got cautioned by the police, not charged. It was the best thing that could have happened to me. It gave me a good kick up the backside.

". . . I had to stop being a prat and grow up. It was time to mature and do what you are supposed to do which in my case was to go out there and show my natural talent and ride horses."