Frankie Dettori admits taking cocaine in Channel 4 news interview

Tony Paley/Guardian News Service

Britain’s most famous jockey, Frankie Dettori, has revealed for the first time that he took cocaine in an exclusive interview with Clare Balding on Channel 4 News, to be broadcast on tonight.

In his first TV interview since he tested positive for drugs last autumn, extracts from which can be seen here, Dettori talks to Balding about why he took cocaine, the impact on his personal life and his future career in racing.

During the wide-ranging interview, Dettori also addresses the steroid scandal that has engulfed his former stables Godolphin.

He tells Channel 4 News: “I’m very ashamed and embarrassed, and paid a very big price for it, you know. I spent six months not doing the thing that I love, racing.

Things were going bad, I was depressed and I guess a moment of weakness and I fell for it and I’ve only got myself to blame. I can’t blame anybody else.

“The embarrassment of when it come out, I had to hide in my house for a week. The paparazzi outside. The embarrassment of telling the children, you know. You know they still go to school, they might get bullied and so it was a very, very difficult time.” Clare Balding talks exclusively to Frankie Dettori on Channel 4 News today at 7pm.