He who pays the money is entitled to make the choice. But where Frankie Dettori is concerned, the man who pays him has chosen to use him sparingly.

Sheikh Mohammed has five Breeders’ Cup runners from Godolphin’s European stable. Dettori only rides two of them. The other three mounts go the way of Ahmed Ajtebi, the Dubaian who is being fast-tracked to the big time.

Twelve months ago Ajtebi, then an inexperienced apprentice, had been deported from Britain with “visa irregularities”. Undaunted, he surfaced at the South African stable of Mike de Kock before taking the Dubai Carnival by storm in the winter.

It has been onwards and upwards for Ajtebi ever since. Deployed by Godolphin as Dettori’s unofficial understudy, his profile has become too pronounced to ignore. Now he takes his first Breeders’ Cup rides aboard Gladiatorus, Buzzword and Vale Of York.

The ride aboard Gladiatorus is Ajtebi’s by right. It was he who steered the front-running miler to victory in the Dubai Duty Free in March - and he who steered the horse throughout a largely disappointing campaign in Europe this season.

However, Buzzword and Vale Of York are a pair of Godolphin two-year-olds. Until recently, they would have been Dettori’s preserve at the self-styled World Thoroughbred Championships in California.

The fact that Ajtebi has never previously ridden in America – never mind at this exalted level - lends poignancy to his booking. Every inch of every Breeders’ Cup race is hotly contested by ruthless jockeys bent on winning. One slight miscalculation is enough to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

The situation demands Dettori’s presence. With eight winners, he is among the most successful jockeys in 25 previous renewals of the Breeders’ Cup. Yet he has been benched.

This, of course, is Sheikh Mohammed’s prerogative. No doubt he would prefer that Godolphin’s stable jockey hails from Dubai in the same way that Saeed Bin Suroor, another native of the emirate, is Godolphin’s trainer.

Yet despite Ajtebi’s promise, his inexperience is palpable. It asks an awful lot of the raw pilot to mix it with America’s finest in their own back yard.

There is another curious element to Godolphin’s Breeders’ Cup preamble. The morning routines of Ajtebi’s three mounts have been markedly different to those of Mastery and Delegator, the mounts of Dettori.

The two groups of horses have emerged from the same quarantine barn at different times, and with vastly different agendas.

While Mastery and Delegator have done very light exercise, the other trio have been working particularly hard. It is almost as if two different hands are on the Godolphin tiller.

Good luck to Ajtebi. He is going to need it to reach the winner’s circle. A more realistic expectation is that he gathers experience that will serve him well in the future. The hope must be that he is not seriously overfaced. A chastening Breeders’ Cup debut would do nothing for his confidence.

As for Dettori, he is in the unenviable position of riding against Ajtebi and his own employer in the Juvenile Turf. Should Dettori bring home the favourite, Pounced, ahead of the Ajtebi-ridden Buzzword, celebrations from the saddle will surely be muted.