Billy ‘The Kid’ Loughnane can be new ‘face of racing’ and next Dettori after Godolphin deal

Billy ‘The Kid’ Loughnane can be the new ‘face of racing’ and the next Frankie Dettori after signing a retained rider deal with Godolphin.

Britain’s new 20-year-old champion jockey has been contracted to ride in the royal blue colors of Sheikh Mohammed’s global Godolphin operation next year.

Loughnane will be one of two retained jockeys alongside William Buick — not an outright No. 1.

Even if he does not claim the lion’s share of top rides immediately, his trajectory within the operation seems clear.

That trajectory has fueled hopes that Loughnane can become a “crossover” talent with the charisma to build a public profile beyond the racing bubble.

Frankie Dettori, Godolphin’s first and most successful No. 1 rider, achieved exactly that.

Dettori rode all seven winners on a single card at Ascot early in his career.

He was also a familiar face for around eight million BBC viewers each week as a team captain on “A Question of Sport.”

At the time, the fact that Dettori had never won the Derby was a running joke on national television.

It was a priceless — and free — weekly advertisement for Dettori, racing and the Derby.

In the fragmented world of social media and YouTube, such platforms no longer exist.

But there is still potential for Loughnane to be the first racing star of the TikTok era.

Loughnane has been swatting away comparisons with Dettori since his earliest days as an apprentice.

Dettori was a relative veteran when he won his first title at 23.

Loughnane is engaging and articulate, with the same showman’s instincts and ability to engage with the crowd.

He takes as much obvious pleasure from a big-race winner as the fans cheering him back to the winner’s enclosure.

For Godolphin — an operation conceived as a soft-power advertisement for Dubai around the globe — that combination is ideal.

Prodigious talent in the saddle plus easy likeability out of it fits the brand perfectly.

At the same time, Loughnane is not the next Dettori.

He is the first Billy Loughnane.

The racing, sporting and media landscapes have changed completely since Dettori achieved first-name status with the wider public.

Still, the new contract with Godolphin should soon see him competing at the highest level.

“I want to ride more Group One winners,” Loughnane said last month when asked to name his main ambition for 2027.

Wednesday’s news makes that ambition all but certain to be achieved.

Loughnane has been playing an increasingly important role in Charlie Appleby’s wing of the Godolphin empire since just after he lost his 7lb claim.

He became a regular feature on the main work mornings at Moulton Paddocks after making his Group 1 breakthrough aboard Rebel’s Romance in September 2025.

On the track, George Boughey seemed to be a relatively flexible boss.

There have probably only been a few occasions when Loughnane was not available to Appleby of an afternoon.

Godolphin has used two retained riders before — the arrangement is nothing new.

William Buick’s position remains secure.

But the signing of Loughnane is widely seen as Godolphin’s smartest piece of succession planning in years.

The operation’s Book 1 spending spree last month is another signal of its ambitions.