'I'm still not sure who I'm going to ride in the Champion Hurdle'

First, the house. Only a few months old. Located three miles from Ratoath in County Meath and only eight miles from his home village of Drumree. Darkness deprives a good gawk of the outside but the interior is impressive, chic and classy. You could be fooled into thinking you've walked into an episode of Grand Designs on Channel 4 – Kevin McCloud would happily claim this as his own work. There are ten stables (all filled), a walker and an indoor lunge ring on the ten-acre site too. He can get to the airport in 25 minutes, paramount for parachuting over to Plumpton on Mondays.

The family. Paula, his wife of seven years, agreed to marry him in the Cheltenham weighing room in 2009, the year Punjabi won the Champion Hurdle. Conveniently, she's a nutritionist, warm and welcoming despite a chubby journalist eating her biscuits and clogging up her fabulous new home late on a Monday evening. They have three kids, Síofra (11), Órla (5) and 21-month old Rían who is the boss. If you're good enough, you're old enough.

The job. First jockey to JP McManus. Replacing royalty. David Moyes could not cope with the pressure of taking over from Sir Alex Ferguson but the man who succeeded Sir Anthony McCoy continues to relish the challenge. McManus is 1-4 with Paddy Power to be the leading owner at next month's Cheltenham Festival. The green and gold army has never been so powerful.