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Life comes a full circle for bin Suroor and Dettori

The Emirati and Italian won some of the biggest races around the world during a golden spell that extended over 18 years

Published: Sat 19 Mar 2022, 9:44 PM

Updated: Sat 19 Mar 2022, 11:30 PM

  • By
  • Leslie Wilson Jr

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KT file photo shows Godolphin trainer Saeed bin Suroor (left) with jockey Frankie Dettori in 2009.

KT file photo shows Godolphin trainer Saeed bin Suroor (left) with jockey Frankie Dettori in 2009.

Modern sport is filled with memorable affiliations that have yielded amazing statistics, great results, and life-long friendships.

Think basketball’s epic pairing of Kobe Bryant & Shaquille O'Neal, Todd Woodbridge & Mark Woodforde, the record-breaking Grand Slam kings of tennis and the bond that boxing legend Mike Tyson shared with his childhood mentor Cus D'Amato.

Big-name championship pairing exists in almost every sport but, perhaps the most famous in the sport of horse racing was the close partnership that trainer Saeed bin Suroor and the incomparable Frankie Dettori shared.

Together, the Emirati and Italian won some of the biggest races around the world during a golden spell that extended over 18 years between 1996-2013 before it came to an end.

Bin Suroor and Dettori went their separate ways, both hurting, both regretting to have split.

Bin Suroor would go on to employ as many as 35 after Dettori left, and while the results were still forthcoming, perhaps the aura and the appeal was not the same.

And bin Suroor was the first to acknowledge that it was ‘different.’

Years passed before their paths crossed and, like life, which comes full circle for some, bin Suroor and Dettori have reunited to revive one of horse’s racing most iconic partnerships.

Next Saturday, bin Suroor and Dettori will join forces in a bid to win the $12 million Dubai World Cup for a fourth time and first since Electrocutionist in 2006.

sports@khaleejtimes.com



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