FRANKIE Dettori will always be grateful to the 20-year association he enjoyed with Ray Cochrane after the classic-winning rider brought the curtain down on his role as agent to the Italian.

Cochrane – a native of Co. Down who won the Derby in 1988 aboard Kahyasi – retired from the saddle in 2000 due to back problems, five months after being involved in a light aircraft crash that claimed the life of pilot Patrick Mackey and led to Cochrane receiving the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery for pulling Dettori from the wreckage.