Back in blue: Frankie Dettori a Godolphin winner once again on Terebellum

Frankie Dettori's 943rd winner for Godolphin came in October 2012. The wait for the 944th was long, and at times it must have seemed as though it could and would never come, but the world's most famous rider and the sport's most famous owner were again united in victory when combining for a significant success at the home of horseracing.

For Godolphin, Dettori rode the winners of nine British Classics, four King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, three Prix de l'Arc de Triomphes and the same number of Dubai World Cups. Set against those stellar prizes, the Betfair Dahlia Stakes almost pales into insignificance, yet it mattered far more than its Group 3 status or £29,489.20 would indicate.

The parting of Dettori and Godolphin had been polite but not pretty. Dettori, for 18 years Sheikh Mohammed's principal rider, became frustrated that Mickael Barzalona, his appointed understudy, was taking an ever larger number of the operation's prime mounts. At a time when relations between Godolphin and Coolmore were poor, Dettori chose to take the mount on the Aidan O'Brien-trained Camelot in the Arc. He readily admitted that he knew what he was doing.

Yet over the intervening years, Dettori's standing has soared ever higher thanks to his renewed association with Terebellum's trainer John Gosden, whose own alliance with Sheikh Mohammed helped to rebuild bridges.

That was seen last year when Dettori rode winners for members of the Maktoum family - including a Queen Mary Stakes in the colours of Sheikh Mohammed's son Sheikh Hamdan - and it was underlined when he steered Terebellum to an easy defeat of Queen Power.

With another Godolphin runner, the Charlie Appleby-trained Magic Lily, back in third, Dettori was not entirely a boy in blue, for he wore a white cap, but with Sheikh Mohammed thought to have been watching from his Newmarket base, there was no doubt that on this occasion the 49-year-old was the main man.

Gosden, who last season prepared Terebellum to finish fifth in the Prix de l'Opera, said: "Terebellum did that nicely. She got a little tired but that was the first time she had been on grass this year as we've only had her on the Al Bahathri. She's a a heavy lady at 528 kilos and takes some getting fit, so she'll improve on that.

"That looked a deep Dahlia Stakes, so it was a good performance, and she liked the ground here better than she did in France last year. We'll have a look at races like the Pretty Polly Stakes in Ireland and the Prix Romanet in France."

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