Frankie Dettori has revealed that he was once dangled from a balcony by a group of Wimbledon players after giving them a bad tip for the annual derby meeting at Epsom.
The jockey had advised members of the club's so-called Crazy Gang to put money on a particularly horse, only to beat his pick on his own mount.
The Italian told BT Sport: "I've been friends with Vinnie Jones for years, he loves his racing. He's got a couple of horses. When he was playing at Wimbledon, it was their big day out, derby day, they used to come with the whole team and take a box. Before racing I went to the box, I went through the cards and told them 'save all your money for the last race because this horse is a specialist at Epsom. This is the one you want to bet on'.
"Sod's law, what happens, this horse is just about to win and I come and beat him on the line. I didn't think anything of it. I had a shower and got changed and I thought I'll go and have a quick drink with the lads and see how they got on. They had a few during the afternoon and they were fuming that they backed the second. They thought it was a great idea to grab me by the ankles and dangle me over the balcony!
"But at the time, I didn't think it was so funny because they were all a little bit drunk and when I looked down it was about three floors high with a concrete floor. Anyway, I stopped giving tips to those crazy people!"
Dettori rode his first winner at the age of 16 in 1986.
Sian Cowper
