(CNN) Frankie Dettori's flamboyant flying dismount has become a trademark, but the veteran Italian jockey says he's become a "slave" to the jump of jubilation after riding a winner.

The showpiece celebration, which he admits he acquired from a rider in the US, has helped make the colorful 47-year-old a crowd favorite at tracks around the world.

But Dettori, one of racing's most successful jockeys, says the legendary leap took a while to gain acceptance.

"I had some winters in California when I was a teenager and I stole it from a great jockey called Angel Cordero Jr.," Dettori told CNN's Winning Post at his home near Newmarket, England.

"I brought it to Europe and it didn't go down very well with the officials in the early years, but now people get behind it and enjoy it.

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