FRANKIE DETTORI was rushed to hospital after a nasty fall – as he thanked doctors for ‘putting me back together’.
The world’s most famous jockey, 53, was unseated from two-year-old filly Pretty Liza before his only race of the day at Aqueduct in New York, US.
Frankie Dettori posted this selfie from hospital after suffering a nasty fall
GettyThe world’s most famous jockey has been loving life in the States with wife and mum-of-five Catherine – but his injury is a huge blow coming so close to one of his favourite meetings[/caption]
He was able to walk to the on-course ambulance, which immediately took him to Jamaica Hospital for further evaluation.
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Dettori posted a hospital bed selfie assuring fans he had been treated and was in recovery.
He wrote: “I appreciate all the messages. I’m doing OK! I dislocated my right shoulder – my team here in the hospital have put it back together.
“Thanks for the messages of concern, it means a lot.”
A statement from New York Racing Association director of communications Keith McCalmont later confirmed: “The shoulder is back in place and Dettori heading home.”
Dettori has enjoyed a new lease of life since leaving Britain – and his incredible mansion that you could rent for £15,000 a month – behind at the end of last year.
He performed a retirement U-turn before jetting off to a new life in the States with wife Catherine – but not before a rotten stint on I’m a Celeb… where he was the first to be voted off.
Although any plans he had to ride in November’s blockbuster Breeders’ Cup in California could now be on hold.
Dettori loves the lifestyle on the West Coast – he said he feels like Tom Cruise strutting his stuff in front of ‘stupendous’ US fans – and has enjoyed loads of success at racing’s ‘world championships’.
He even bagged one lucky punter more than £100,000 after winning six races at Santa Anita racecourse earlier this year.
The American trainers are always eager to sign up Dettori and would have been plotting a few big-time rides for him at the multi-million dollar meeting.
But he’s now in a race against time to recover fully from his fall before the two-day spectacular starts on November 2.
Dettori is no stranger to injuries – miraculously surviving a fatal plane crash that tragically took the life of pilot Patrick Mackey in June 2000.
The jockey was pulled from the burning wreckage by friend Ray Cochrane.
Dettori moved This Morning viewers to tears a few years ago when describing the harrowing experience.
He said: “I thought there was no way I was going to get out of it.
“I looked to Ray and I was staring at the ground, the plane was going down.
“I had this feeling of… not fear of dying, because I knew I was going to die, but I was just disappointed that God was going to take me and I was not ready for it.
“I had a six-month-old child and life was going so great – I just had this feeling of, ‘oh no, it’s all over, finished’.
“I didn’t see my life flashing in front of me, I just had the feeling of it being over.
“It’s just awful to think what me and Ray went through.”
News Group Newspapers LtdDettori was lucky to be alive after surviving a fatal plane crash in June 2000[/caption]
ReutersThe jockey, famed for his Magnificent Seven at Ascot, was pulled from the smouldering wreckage by his friend[/caption]
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