He was there as usual on Saturday - trademark flat cap and scarf, ruddy features, mischievous smile and a word for everyone. Trevor Hemmings hardly misses when Haydock stages jump racing but it is next week, just down the M62 at Aintree, that he will look most at home.

On these courses, central to the industrial north-west, Hemmings could be mistaken for a retired factory worker from Bolton.

This is part of his charm, that image of a cheerful pensioner who might have a couple of fivers to spend at the races, rather than his actual worth of close to a billion.

The deception is innocent enough but the story behind it - of a man who started out as a bricklayer at Pontins and ending up buying that and many more companies - explains Hemmings's broad popularity. He is the ultimate little man made good, yet it has never changed him, or his attitude to others.

When he fulfilled an initially fanciful ambition and won the Grand National with Hedgehunter in 2005, the applause was heartfelt. It is men such as Hemmings that epitomise the spirit and democracy of jump racing, not to mention its recently acquired wealth.

He spreads his favours far wider than most of his rivals at the head of the owners' list. This season alone, 16 trainers have run his horses in Britain. Seven have trained him at least three winners but only one - Ferdy Murphy - more than six.

Hemmings enjoys his cast list, not only for the varying characters he loves to banter with but also because, in his 70s, he is still a master businessman at heart. He likes to keep them on their toes. The Hemmings pot may seem bottomless but any who are flippant with it will find themselves off the roster.

To train for him is deemed a badge of honour, not least for his company. Nicky Henderson, whose breeding and Eton education place him poles apart from Hemmings's background, sums up the appeal. “He's a spectacular man, especially when you sit back and consider what he's achieved. He's as good a friend as you could wish to have. We are the fortunate ones, those who are around his hobby, but it has to be professional - we're not here just playing with his toys.”

The ambition of Hemmings, indeed, is implicit in his every act.

He may fit all the trite clichés of ownership - great sportsman, gracious loser etc - but Hemmings wants to win. At Cheltenham, he won the first two races on the marathon Thursday and his beam would have split the darkest clouds. At Haydock on Saturday, he added two more winners, and delighted in predicting his 1-2 in the day's feature race on television.

Naturally, as with all good things, he now wants to win the National again. The race is in his blood and the mystique consumes him. This time around, Hedgehunter is only his second string behind the short-priced favourite, Cloudy Lane.

The fact that Cloudy Lane is trained by Donald McCain - son of Ginger - makes this an irresistible Aintree story. At a time when racing executives are on overtime to keep the sport in the news after the public engagement achieved by the Gold Cup, this is another gift.

If Hemmings does achieve a second National, the great bonus could be that it makes him champion owner for the first time.

One more ambition for him to tick off. One more reason for the rest of us to acclaim him.