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Racing Castaways

Frankie Dettori

Duration: 45 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 ExtraLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 Extra

Available for 7 months

Champion horse racing jockey Frankie Dettori is castaway by Sue Lawley.

Over the past two decades he's won more than 2,000 races including most of the classics at home and abroad and has been Champion Jockey three times.

The son of a famous Italian jockey, he was brought up in Italy but sent by his father to train at Newmarket when he was 14 years old - 18 months later he was winning races. In 1996 he won seven races out of seven in a single day at Ascot - a feat that has not been achieved before or since.

But in 2000 he thought his luck had run out when he and fellow jockey Ray Cochrane left Newmarket in a light aircraft - only for it to plunge to the ground moments after take-off. He thought he was about to die and on coming round in the wreckage was not sure whether he was alive or dead. The event left him undecided as to what to do next. He was a hugely popular team captain on BBC TV's A Question of Sport for two years, but a chance remark from one of the contestants who thought he had retired made him realise he had to focus on being a jockey.

He returned to the sport with a renewed vigour and became Champion jockey once again. Now a father of five, Frankie plans to retire at 45 and hopes that by then he will have won the Epsom Derby - the only major title that has so far eluded him.

DISC ONE: Life is a Rollercoaster - Ronan Keating
DISC TWO: Back in Black - AC/DC
DISC THREE: Into the Groove - Madonna
DISC FOUR: Three Little Birds - Bob Marley & The Wailers
DISC FIVE: Amazing Grace - Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
DISC SIX: Fairground - Simply Red
DISC SEVEN: Feel - Robbie Williams
DISC EIGHT: Insomnia - Faithless

BOOK CHOICE: The History of the Derby
LUXURY CHOICE: Lifetime supply of Pinot Grigio
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Amazing Grace - Royal Scots Dragoon Guards

Producer: Leanne Buckle

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2006. Show less

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This data is drawn from the data stream that informs BBC's iPlayer and Sounds. The information shows what was scheduled to be broadcast, meaning it was/is subject to change and may not be accurate. More