'If you don't laugh, you'll cry' - Chaldean camp still smiling after Dettori is dumped

An awfully long way from the sunshine of Santa Anita, Frankie Dettori was brought back down to earth with a bump.

For most of this year, the world's most famous jockey has been based in California, writing the opening chapters of his farewell tour and riding plenty of winners in a place where shades and shorts have been the apparel du jour. Dettori will be back in the autumn for the Breeders' Cup, but at the start of this week he headed home from America, worked for three days at the Craven meeting and then spent Friday evening in London, watching his beloved Arsenal. Perhaps surprisingly, it transpired there was worse to follow.

Dettori will not get another chance to win a Greenham Stakes, but he could still land a fourth Qipco 2,000 Guineas aboard Chaldean, who raced prominently throughout Newbury's Watership Down Stud-backed trial, albeit without a rider, having dumped Dettori on leaving the stalls. It was clearly a shame, particularly if you happened to have backed the Dewhurst winner, but a Group 3 in April was only ever going to be a means to an end – and the end is considerably more important than the means.