Ray Cochrane has vowed to do everything he can to help Frankie Dettori regain the jockeys` championship following the news that he has taken over the role as the popular Italian`s agent.
Cochrane was forced to retire from the saddle last week because of neck and back injuries after a very successful career and he has jumped at the chance to stay in racing.
On June 1st this year Cochrane pulled Dettori from the burning wreckage of a plane which crashed at Newmarket racecourse, claiming the life of pilot Patrick Mackey.
It was confirmed earlier this week that Cochrane is to receive an award from the Royal Humane Society for the bravery he showed.
The incident brought the pair, who had been friends for many years, a lot closer and Cochrane said today: 'It should be a good job and I am really looking forward to it.
'A few weeks ago Frankie and I were playing golf and he inquired about my injuries and I said Dr Michael Turner was coming to see me and I thought that things did not look too good as far as my neck and back injuries were concerned.
'I feared that I might have to pack it in and Frankie said to me: `You remember our agreement of a few years ago that you would become my agent at some stage, well it still stands.` And I thought it was great of him to have remembered and to have given me the chance.'
He went on: 'He has had a quiet year because of his injuries but I will be doing the best I can for him next season and I will certainly be thinking in terms of the championship for him!
'He will have a good team to go at, with David Loder coming back and with the Godolphin team looking like they are building up a good string so it should be nice.
'The thing is, if you set off with a championship at the back of your mind then you will work very hard at it. You have to set yourself a goal though at the end of the day it is the one who has the clearest passage who gets there.'
The news that Dettori was splitting with Andy Stringer and teaming up with Cochrane came as a surprise to many, and Cochrane added: 'I feel a bit guilty about it as far as Andy is concerned - I rode winners for him when he was training _ but as I said Frankie and I had talked about it a long time ago.'
Cochrane used to book his own rides for part of his career and he recalled: 'I did it until I was riding about 50 winners a season. It was very hard keeping up with the form book and everything else and when I headed off for the meetings I would leave a print out of the races with my wife Ann and told her that if anyone rang up to get me on the horses which I had marked with a red dot!
'It is easier now with all the information that is available and with us being able to watch the racing on SIS but everybody is in the same boat so I will have to be trying my hardest for Frankie and that is something I certainly will do.'
Dettori thanked Stringer, saying: 'Andrew has done a great job for me. We won the Dubai World Cup and had eight Group One winners together.
'But Ray and I go back a long way. He taught me a lot when I was a youngster at Luca Cumani`s.
'We went through hell and back together with the plane crash.'
Stringer was surprised by the news but he took it philosophically and reasoned: 'That is the way it goes, Frankie and Ray are very close after what they have been through and I wish them the best of luck.
'I was a real rookie agent when Frankie gave me the job and I thank him for giving me the chance to get into this type of work and I think I did pretty well for him.
'Fortunately I do book Jamie Spencer`s rides and he is an up-and-coming jockey who, I think, will go to the very top. It would be nice to get one or two other young jockeys to compliment him so I`m on the look-out.'
