'I'd smell the turkey cooking, knowing I'd be having one slice if I was lucky'

For most of us, the choices on Christmas Day are simple – six roast potatoes or seven, one turkey leg or both and 'shall we open another bottle?' – and the consequences are limited to a spot of indigestion and a fuzzy head in the morning.

For a jockey, however, the options are often rather more limited. A bowl of pudding and custard on the 25th can transform itself into a pound of unwelcome overweight on the 26th, so some will have to keep their appetites in check – as they do on the other 364 days of the year – while others have been known to employ many and varied tactics to offset the damage, from long-distance running to laxatives.

So, while we savour the prospect of a slap-up family lunch, let's hear how the riders we'll be watching on Boxing Day will be spending their Christmas. Let's hope for all of them it will be happy – and not too hungry.