Who could slot into Frankie's shoes? I've got just the man . . .

Perhaps the biggest clue yet that Frankie Dettori is not going to go on for as long as Lester Piggott arrived last week when the sport's greatest showman revealed he would not be replacing his agent of 20 years, Ray Cochrane. It was not a surprise, more a realisation.

Explaining his decision on Luck on Sunday, Dettori said: "More or less 90 per cent of my rides are for John [Gosden]. I'll be 50 in December, so I haven't got 20 years in front of me anymore. There is no point having someone who is eager to send me north, middle and south, and to two meetings a day. I don't need that anymore, so I can look after myself. If trainers want me, they have my number."

Playing hard to get works for some, provided you are handsome enough or good enough at what you do. A word of warning, though, Frankie: whenever I resisted the temptation of texting a girl the morning after the night before, they never got in touch. All two of them. Football managers rarely rang to see why I had missed a match either.