Detorri comments on the retirement rumors.

I nearly choked on my chicken when I sat down to dinner on Wednesday night.

Sitting in my kitchen, I was just tucking into it when the phone rang. It was Godolphin racing manager Simon Crisford.

“Is it true you’re retiring?” he said.

To say I was gobsmacked is the understatement of the century. Me? Retiring? It was the first I’d heard of it.

“Not unless you’re retiring me!” I told Simon, as the racing press from both in Britain and abroad rang the phone off the hook to see if the story was true.

So, just to underline the point for anyone who has been on Mars for the past few days – I am NOT retiring.

The ‘news’ was broken on Twitter by somebody who had set up an account in Godolphin’s name – but they had nothing to do with Godolphin and the whole episode was a hoax.

The way things work these days is that stories like this spread like wild fire – it takes only a few minutes before they have got momentum.

Maybe people believed it because I haven’t got a ride in the Derby today, for the first time since I had the plane crash in 2000.

But there’s no horse for me to ride. There are nine runners in the race, and Godolphin isn’t represented.

If there isn’t a horse there, I can’t invent one!

My stable has had a slow start this spring, but let’s have a look at the situation after Royal Ascot, which has always been a happy hunting ground for me.

It’s where the programme for older horses really starts in earnest, and that’s where Godolphin should come to the fore.

The Ascot squad should include Opinion Poll in the Gold Cup after his win in the King Henry II Stakes at Sandown on Thursday night.

So those who were in a panic and looking to retire me were jumping the gun – by a good few years.

I’m only 41 years old, and the Mick Kinanes and Pat Edderys of this world went into their 50’s before they stopped riding.

Don’t be fooled by what people say about me – I love what I do, I’m 1,000 per cent dedicated to it, and I think I’m still pretty good at it.

There was also a big fuss made on Wednesday when Mickael Barzalona was declared to ride Kailani in the Oaks – a race in which I was offered a ride by Aidan O’Brien.

I know my English isn’t absolutely perfect, but I’ve lived here for a quarter of a century and I’m surprised people didn’t understand what I have been saying in the Daily Mirror over the past few weeks.

Godolphin now has three jockeys on its books after signing Mickael and Silvestre De Sousa in the spring, and so the rides are going to be shared around.

Does anybody remember who rode Gladiatorus when he was favourite for the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot three years ago?

It wasn’t me. It was Ahmed Ajtebi, because Ahmed had ridden the horse when he had won in Dubai that spring.

Godolphin has got a lot of horses, and Sheikh Mohammed employs three jockeys – and sometimes more – to ride them.

If a jockey has ridden a horse to win a race, the chances are the partnership will stay intact, just as with Mickael and Kailani.

As I have said over the past few weeks, I don’t have a problem with that – healthy competition within a team is what makes it successful.

So I’m not ready for my pipe and slippers just yet, and you’ll have to put up with me for a good few years to come yet.

Please don’t make me repeat myself next week!

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I don't have a ride in the Derby, but if I did there is just one horse I would choose – CAMELOT.