CHAMPION jockey Frankie Dettori is preparing to start his 1995 season on the all-weather at Southwell on January 2 as planned, despite a major change in the rules governing the British jockeys' title. Despite the championship being decided on prizemoney rather than the number of winners, Dettori is still determined to get a 'flyer' in his bid to make a successful defence of the title. He and his agent Matty Cowing have been through last season's statistics and found that from 230 rides taken before Doncaster's Lincoln meeting in late-March, Dettori had accumulated about GBP207,000 in prizemoney. This was the equivalent of his wins on Balanchine in the Epsom Oaks and Lochsong in the King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot. The goal posts may have been moved, but Dettori was defiant that his first season as defending champion would carry on as he had planned it. 'It is just too late to do anything else,' said Dettori, who had cancelled his trip to Hong Kong and then failed to chase up other winter opportunities. No doubt, the British Horseracing Board and the Jockeys' Association felt they were discouraging the top jockeys from embarking on a gruelling 12-month long campaign by introducing the new title rules. But they were not taking into account the intense rivalry between Dettori and his contemporary Jason Weaver. The BHB doctor has argued that jockeys should be the same as pilots of aircraft - they should be forced to take a rest after logging so many hours, or in the case of the jockeys, a certain number of mounts. By making the competition based on prizemoney, officials felt sure the jockeys would opt to rest in the winter. Dettori and Weaver have confounded them.
