They still need to be ridden out, fed and watered just like every other day. As far back as I can remember, first thing Christmas morning has always been about riding out and I don't expect this year to be any different. Tomorrow morning - weather permitting - I'll be in Willie Mullins' yard when you're opening your presents.

A yard is just like a farm. The work still needs to be done no matter what's going on in the outside world. Most yards will split their staff up half and half over the next fortnight. Some will work for Christmas, the others for New Year. When you've never known any different, it doesn't cost you a thought.

I say weather permitting because with all the fog that's hung around Ireland and Britain over the past week, there's every chance I'm on my way to England as you're reading this. Because the boats and planes don't go on Christmas Day, if it looks like fog is going to keep us all on the ground on St Stephen's Day, then myself and Gillian will have to go to England today. Christmas dinner will either be in a relation's house, a hotel or Tony McCoy's kitchen. Anything beats the thought of being stuck sitting in Dublin airport on Tuesday morning. The things I do for Kauto Star? Not just him. Wherever I eat my dinner tomorrow, it won't be piled high on the plate because on Tuesday at Kempton, I have to do 10st 1lb for a four-year-old filly called Bold Fire in the Feltham Novices' Chase. That will mean being somewhere near 9st 13lb stripped which would be a good four or five pounds lower than I would usually be. It will probably be a matter of arriving at Kempton at around 10st 1lb and losing the rest in the sauna then. After all that, I'd imagine Bold Fire will be there or thereabouts in the race.

The danger with doing a weight like that is in taking too much out of myself - there's no point wasting myself away when I still have Kauto Star and Desert Quest to ride later in the day. Kauto Star is obviously the best present I'll be getting this Christmas. I was on his back last Wednesday morning for a while and he's in great nick. He'll need a bit of luck, naturally, but everything we've seen so far says that if he has a normal run and nothing out of the ordinary happens, he'll be very hard to beat in the King George.

I've heard some people say during the week that the only horse that will beat him is himself. But it would be too easy to get carried away when people are saying things like that. I know how special he is but every horse is beatable. The one I'd be most afraid of in the race is Monet's Garden. Racing Demon has his chance too but I'd say Monet's Garden is the one that will give Kauto Star most trouble.

Also at Kempton, I'll have a good chance with Desert Quest in the Christmas Hurdle. He brought me one of the happiest moments of the year when he won the last race on the last day of Cheltenham and brought me the leading rider title with it ahead of McCoy. AP will obviously be the man to beat here again on Straw Bear, although if Noel Meade decides to send Iktitaf over, my lad will probably find it tough to beat both of them.

On Wednesday, I'll be in Chepstow for the Welsh National on a horse called Lou De Moulin Mas. This is race with a couple of really well-fancied horses in it but I just have a feeling mine is especially well weighted. He'll have a stone on Juveigneur, nearly a stone and a half on Innox. When you think that he put in a great run to end up six or seven lengths behind Innox at Cheltenham last November, I think he might be a bit ahead of the handicapper here. He's come back from a wind operation since then and ran a cracker for me at Ascot last month when he was just beaten by Harris Bay and then he won at Newbury a week later. This race is going to be a stamina test and I just have a feeling that he's well enough weighted to stand up to that test. At around 8-1 or so, I think he looks like a decent bet.

Then on Thursday, it'll be home to Leopardstown for Lexus day. I'll more than likely be on Southern Vic in the big one and, obviously, Beef Or Salmon and War Of Attrition are both going to be very hard to get by. So the intention will be to at worst finish third to them. Southern Vic had a good run at Navan last week and although he'll have to improve to reach the big two, I'd say he has a fair each-way chance.

My best chance that day will be on Snowy Morning, the horse I won on in Navan last Sunday. He runs in the Powers Whiskey Novice Chase and although there's some good horses in it - the likes of O'Muircheartaigh and Oulart are no slouches - I have a feeling Snowy Morning has a chance at a good price.

Earlier in the week, there are a few nice horses around the place that I'd imagine will run pretty well. On Tuesday, Michael O'Brien has a three-year-old called Deputy Consort running in the Durkan New Homes Juvenile Hurdle. I won on him in Down Royal last month and I think there's more to come from him. In the big novice chase that day, Dessie Hughes's horse Schindlers Hunt definitely has a big race in him.

In the Paddy Power Chase on Wednesday, I think Michael Hourigan's horse Kerryhead Windfarm will have a great chance at a fairly big price. I know he'll have a few more pounds on his back than a horse like, say, Homer Wells but he has a lot of class and I'd fancy him to run well. And if Nickname can come back to his Fortria Chase form, he'll take all the beating in the Paddy Power Dial-a-Bet chase on the same day.

He was a big hit over Christmas last year and although he wasn't great when I rode him at Punchestown last time, he's another with the class to run a big race.