Think of hot-beds of horse racing and it is long odds against Hartlepool jumping to mind, but when Paul Nodding was growing up in the North-East it was where his love of the sport was nurtured.

Not that he got much chance to see live racing, but visits to his grandfather’s home opened his eyes to the excitement racing could deliver.

And, at York this week, Paul hopes to raise a glass to those golden days by fulfilling a lifelong dream with a winner on the Knavesmire, his grandfather’s favourite racecourse.

“My grandfather was mad about racing and my main memories of visiting are that racing always seemed to be on the television while there was always a pile of form-books in the corner.

“Although he loved everything about the sport, he was particularly keen on York and would go whenever he could so it would be really fabulous for me to have a winner at what is one of the greatest racecourses in the world” says Paul.

The horse he is looking to achieve the dream is flying sprinter Hamish McGonagall, who is trained in Yorkshire by Tim Easterby and has the five furlong Axis Intermodal Handicap on Friday as his target.

Nodding organised and heads the 10-strong Racing Reality Syndicate that owns Hamish McGonagall, who has already gone close to winning a race at York, having finished second in a maiden on the course last October.

Nodding says:“That was exciting enough as he ran a great race and finished second to a Godolphin horse called Calming Influence, who is very highly regarded. He then went on to win at Musselburgh on his final start.

“Hamish McGonagall had his first run this season as Thirsk and although he won the race on what is supposed to be the favoured side, he was just beaten by Mey Blossom, who ran on the far side.

“Although he was second, Tim was very pleased with the run and while it is always hard to win a race at York, if you go there with a runner that has a reasonable chance it is great” he added.

And Easterby added: “The York May Festival is my favourite of the whole year and I shall have a few runners including Hamish McGonagall. He is rated 84 and I think he should run very well”.