CHARACTER BUILDING could end a half-century wait for North Yorkshire in tomorrow’s Grand National. His trainer, John Quinn, took STEVE CARROLL onto the gallops to see his horse in action.

IT is beautiful and breathtaking at the same time. A sound of majesty but also of sheer brute force.

You hear the hooves long before you see them – and you don’t see them for very long.

By the time you can properly clasp eyes on Character Building, the iron grey horse who holds Norton trainer John Quinn’s hopes in tomorrow’s Grand National, he has gone past – swept along in the string of thoroughbreds on the Highfield gallop.

“This is the best part of the day for us,” Quinn says, lowering his binoculars.

“I love going to the races but it’s great to stand here watching them. It’s 7.30am and the phone never rings at this hour.

“I just love it. You are looking, and thinking and planning. Then it’s 9am. That’s when the world wakes up.”

The weight of history should wear heavily on Quinn’s shoulders.

No winner of the Grand National has been trained in North Yorkshire since 1960. No grey has won the famous race since 1961. No female jockey has ever won it.

Quinn doesn’t have much time for statistics. The only figure he has ever cared about is the number in the winner column.

Horses aren’t bothered by them either.

This is light work for Character Building – a mile-long gallop at an easy pace. He’s ready for Aintree and this is designed to keep him that way.

He is surrounded by faster horses but the 11-year-old takes the challenge in his stride, lolling along almost effortlessly up the all-weather surface.

Quinn, flanked by son Sean, can’t hide the smile. He’s absolutely delighted. “He’s in good nick isn’t he? I tell you, that’s done something for me that. He’s ready.

“The well-being of your horses is vital and he was sweet there. Wasn’t he Sean? They have gone a nice pace without killing him and he’s worked grand.”

It is Character Building’s third tilt at National glory.

In 2009, after winning the Kim Muir Challenge Cup Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, he was heavily fancied but a minor foot injury just days before the race ended his chances before he had even seen Becher’s Brook, Valentine’s or the dreaded The Chair.

Last year, he did meet those fences. Nina Carberry, who rides him again tomorrow, got him round in seventh as Tony McCoy won an emotional victory on Don’t Push It.

This time, the plan for Character Building has always been Aintree – to the extent Quinn swerved Cheltenham to keep him fresh for the four-and-a-half-mile marathon.

His last run was at Doncaster more than a month ago – the Grimthorpe Chase – where, over an inadequate trip, the grey stuck on bravely to finish third.

That light campaign means Character Building is towards the bottom of the National handicap, carrying what looks like a well-treated ten stone, four pounds.

Quinn agrees.

“He’s off a handy weight,” he says. “He’s half a stone less than last year but then one could say he’s actually ten pounds lower, officially rated, than he was last year.

“But he’s not ten pounds a worse horse. If I were looking at it, from the outside in, I think the fact that he has got round before is a big plus.

“Nothing is set in stone at Aintree but you have seen horses there that have run well and then they have come back and they have gone even better. It is an advantage.

“He’s also in better shape than he was last year.”

The horses trot round in a circle after their work and Quinn addresses each rider in turn – but he can’t stay away from Character Building for long.

“His price is shrinking,” he says.

“He’s 22-1 now. I’m going to pull Ollie’s leg. He’s the lad who rides him and he’s a grand fella. He’s Chris Pimlott’s son, who was an ex-Michael Dickinson man.”

“Well Ollie,” he asks with a mischievous grin as the rider sits atop Character Building. “Someone has backed him this morning. Was it you?”

The young Pimlott is giving nothing away.

Dougie Costello would have ridden Character Building at Aintree but for the horrific double fracture that ended his season the day before Cheltenham.

So it is Carberry who renews her association with the grey and Quinn is highly complimentary of the jockey who will be the first woman to ride a National winner should the horse prevail.

“She’s very confident,” he says. “Whatever you do in life, if you are confident that’s half the battle – if you believe in yourself.

“There is probably no-one that has jumped as many obstacles as she has. She rides a lot of cross-country races.”

We are now in a small field beside Quinn’s Highfield stable where Character Building is tackling an Irish hurdle. Pimlott takes the horse round three times – popping him over the small obstacle.

“I’m just getting him to get his eye in,” reveals Quinn.

“The greatest trainer of all time, Vincent O’Brien – when everyone was schooling their horses over high fences – used to school his horses lower. If you think about it, it’s a confidence thing.”

Detractors will say the Grand National is only a handicap. That it pales in significance to the likes of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, over jumps, and the Derby on the Flat.

Try telling that to Quinn.

“It is one of the great races in the world,” he says.

“I was reading that a billion people will watch the National. Now I don’t think a billion people will watch the English Derby. People from all over the world watch this race.”

So should the £1 brigade, the army of housewives who have their only bet of the year in this race, back his horse?

“If he has a bit of luck in running, I think he will run a huge race. I do,” he insists.

“The plan is: go down the inside, be handier than you were last year and be lucky.

“I’ll be inside having a drink.”

Then the phone starts ringing. It’s 9am. The world has woken up.


Building profile of a character

• The last North Yorkshire-trained winner of the Grand National was Merryman II in 1960, ridden by Gerry Scott and trained in Middleham by Captain Neville Crump.

• Only two greys have ever won the Grand National – The Lamb (1868) and Nicolaus Silver (1961).

• Character Building was one of four greys that ran in the 2010 Grand National. The others were Beat The Boys, King Johns Castle and Piraya.

• Since 1978, seven 11-year-olds have won the race. They are: Aldaniti (1981), Last Suspect (1985), Maori Venture (1987), Mr Frisk (1990), Seagram (1991), Miinnehoma (1994) and Red Marauder (2001).

• Nina Carberry will become the first female jockey to ride in the Grand National three times tomorrow and would be the first winner. She previously rode Forest Gunner in 2006 and Character Building a year ago.