Saturday 23 May 2015 13:43, UK
Tony McCoy is looking forward to assisting his old boss JP McManus now his career in the saddle is over - but insists a decision on who will replace him as number one rider to the powerful owner has yet to be taken.
McCoy brought the curtain down on his glittering career last month at Sandown, where he was crowned champion jockey for the 20th time.
And he has been busy since, enjoying life away from the constant monitoring of his weight that is a daily routine for all riders.
Writing in his column in The Times, McCoy said: "I haven't watched a single jump race this month and I'm doing a lot of things that I never would have done before - like eating and staying out until 3am - but reports that I've put on a stone are a bit strong.
"That would be a summary of my first four weeks as a former jockey. Chanelle, my wife, has a book called '101 Things to do with a Retired Man', but I've not had a chance to read it because I've been even busier than when I was riding."
Outlining his plans to help McManus and his long-standing racing manager Frank Berry, McCoy said: "I'm going to be carrying on working for JP in the future. My role will be doing a little bit of everything. JP has a lot of horses and I'll be giving Frank a hand with organising things and trying to make the team more successful.
"I was privileged to ride for JP for such a long time and Frank was always very helpful to me. Staying involved with them was always something I'd hope would happen once I finished riding.
"I rode out five or six horses for Jonjo (O'Neill) 10 days or so after retiring and that is something I will definitely continue to do."
On the subject of his replacement, McCoy said: "There has been speculation about who will replace me as JP's jockey but nothing has been finalised and there's no real need to be sorting it out at the moment.
"JP has a good team of lads who ride for him in England and Ireland and I'm sure they will continue to get rides.
"Believe it or not, the pair of us did not speak about the subject until about a week after I'd retired, and I was the one who brought it up in conversation.
"JP said that he had wanted us to both enjoy our final days together as an owner-jockey combination. As such, he said it wasn't something that he wanted to be thinking or talking about."
