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The last encore was always going to be the hardest but racing's greatest showman knew the moment he dreaded could no longer be avoided.
Frankie Dettori has been so synonymous with the biggest days and the biggest meetings, over four remarkable decades, that the idea of him no longer being part of the rhythm of it all is almost difficult to compute.
Plenty of occasional racing fans will be unaware that he hasn't ridden at a British meeting since October 2023, when he somehow conjured a winning run from an impossible position on King Of Steel, the strapping grey colt owned by Amo Racing, in the QIPCO Champion Stakes.
To understand the Italian's popularity, all you needed that day was to look up at the stands and listen to 30,000 punters singing his name – 'Oh Frankie Dettori!' – in a fashion that you would associate more with football stadium.
This, however, wasn't about being partisan; it was simply to pay respect to a legend.
Dettori – with his flying dismounts, his ability to deliver a one-liner and the gift of getting horses to run like the wind – was the character a previously stuffy sport needed to widen its appeal in the 1990s and it's not going overboard to say there won't be another like him. It's why his retirement leads to mixed emotions.
Italian rider Frankie Dettori was a master at being able to get his horses to run like the wind
With his flying dismounts and delivery of one-liners, he became racing's greatest showman
Queen Elizabeth II presents Dettori with a winners prize at Ascot Racecourse in October 2017
Dettori, in his pomp, was almost unbeatable in final furlong showdowns but the one duel he was always going to lose was with Father Time – he will be 55 in December and emulating Lester Piggott, who was 59 when he last rode in 1995, isn't realistic.
For his health and well-being, ending this winter, after a couple of rides in South America, is right. Yet it is impossible not to feel a pang of regret that the man who so often wrote his own headlines and propelled racing to a wider audience – he achieved the ultimate recognition of simply being known by his first name – will no longer there.
'He can put a horse in any situation and win,' Bob Baffert, the US Hall of Fame trainer, once told Daily Mail Sport.
'What can I say? He's just one of the greatest of all time. Every time he gets on a horse, he expects to win. If it loses, it comes as a surprise. He's so talented. You see him do special things.'
He had three rides at the Breeders Cup on Saturday evening in Del Mar – Khaadem, in the Sprint, for Charlie Hills; Wimbledon Hawkeye, in the Turf and Argine in the Mile, the race he won in 1994 on a brilliant colt called Barathea.
Those who have been trackside in California this week have spoken of him being a little subdued and prickly and, perhaps, it was to be expected. Dettori, away from the cameras, can be dark and brooding and knowing the life he has known is about to change has evidently gnawed away.
Dettori propelled racing to a wider audience with his persona and charismatic personality
The curtain will come down on Dettori's glittering career in winter for the good of his wellbeing
This has been a challenging year, in many respects. In March, he was declared bankrupt over long-standing tax issues and admitted in a statement that was shared with the Daily Mail back then that he was 'embarrassed' about how his financial affairs had been managed.
Just as painful, in some respects, would have been the realisation that the light of his career was dying. He did an about-turn two years ago, having initially decided to quit, when it became obvious that he had so much to give.
That is no longer the case in the saddle. A new role, as an ambassador for Kia Joorabchian's Amo operation, beckons and while he is sure to embrace it, the buzz of top level competition, the adrenaline and the limelight will be impossible to replace.
'What can you say about Frankie? He's an icon,' Joorabchian said. 'He is a true legend of the sport. When you talk about great sportsmen like LeBron James, (Steph) Curry, Messis and Peles and people like that, Frankie is that to horse racing.
'When you go into Royal Ascot, you see a statue out there, you know that he's made a big impact on so many lives across the world. Carlos Tevez was my biggest football signing, Dettori is very important. He's going to be a very important part of our operation.'
