A tale of two jockeys: Frankie is on fire but is Ryan Moore riding below par?

Frankie Dettori is riding out of his skin at the moment. No-one has ever got close to the achievement he notched up last week of 12 Group 1 wins in 66 days, not even Ryan Moore when he set the record for a European-based Flat jockey of 22 Group/Grade 1 victories in a year – a feat he achieved in 2016 and 2017.

Dettori’s hot streak started with Anapurna in the Oaks and was followed by Royal Ascot successes aboard Crystal Ocean, Stradivarius and Advertise. Coronet helped him to a Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, then Enable added a Coral-Eclipse. A Prix Jean Prat on Too Darn Hot and an Irish Oaks on Star Catcher finally preceded repeat performances from his superstar quartet – Enable adding the King George, Stradivarius the Goodwood Cup, Too Darn Hot the Sussex Stakes and Advertise Sunday’s Prix Maurice de Gheest.

But it is not just happening in the biggest races. Dettori is putting up incredible numbers all round this season. As the accompanying table shows, his numbers are up across the board compared to the previous four seasons. His strike-rate is a whopping 27 per cent and he is winning on 55 per cent of the favourites he is riding and 31 per cent of those sent off at a single-figure price.