As Diamond Harry's rivals lost sight of him up the Cheltenham hill on Sunday, Nick Williams might have afforded himself a pat on the back. Not long ago the Devon trainer elected to take the slow boat to success. This was his first significant dividend.

Gone is the policy of buying horses in training. In their place is a cluster of unraced youngsters and the long road to the racecourse. Diamond Harry, whom Williams bought two years ago, was having only the fourth run of his life. The Cheltenham Festival now beckons this giant slab of an old-fashioned store.

That Williams, 52, eschews fashion is plain from his unconventional attire. Trinny and Susannah could make hay at his expense, yet it suits him well. This is a man who started young before taking a 15-year break from training. He earned both the money and the right to do it his way when he came back.

Even now, this bluff, engaging character remains a practising accountant with an upper limit of 16 horses. More horses bring problems of the kind that would drive this highly-strung individual to despair. A nine-hour drive wasn't the sole reason for his collapse in the racecourse stables at Aintree two years ago.

“Even with 16,” he offered, “two of mine clashed in a race at Fontwell recently because it was their only opportunity. There are a lot of political issues within racing that upset me. I find it insulting that we are asked to race for a few hundred quid, so I'd rather concentrate on quality. Mind you, not that I have an abundance of that at the moment.”

You would have thought that two jobs were enough for one man. Yet Williams feels so strongly about racing's ills that he once applied for the post as chairman of the British Horseracing Authority. “I'm a chartered accountant and a trainer,” he chuckled at the memory, “but I didn't even get an interview.”

To Williams, nothing is as welcome as a clean slate with which to work. Hence the decision to concentrate on young horses which, in his words, no one has had the chance to muck up.

“The only horses that become stars are the ones you nurture from the start,” he said. “Breaking and feeding them properly, monitoring their bone structure - we do it all our own way.” The more he talks, the more apparent it becomes that he treats every horse as though it were a Gold Cup winner in the making. This is surely a fast-track to disappointment.

“Better that then spending ages trying to sort out a horse's problems when it comes to us,” he replied. “There's invariably a reason why someone sells a horse in training.” Diamond Harry follows on from Williams' best season last term, and if further vindication of his approach is required, Reve De Sivola provides it. Bought as a yearling in France, the three-year-old advanced significantly from his debut to run an eye-catching third at Cheltenham in the strongest juvenile hurdle of the campaign so far.

Good races have not eluded the stable, which is a family-run affair. One of Williams and his wife, Jane, usually oversees evening stables while the other tots up the figures at the accountancy firm in which they are both partners.

Husband, wife and two children take care of most of the riding out, although Williams may be permanently grounded after breaking his leg in August.

“I've had so many injuries that I never seem to be sound these days,” he said. “In the mornings either Jane or I will ride the important lots to see the horses close up, but I'm beginning to like the idea of staying in one piece for a bit.”

Jane has been aboard Diamond Harry most mornings as the big horse continues his climb through the ranks. He will probably run twice more before the Festival, where he will endeavour to break the Williams duck. However, the best will only be seen of him when he tackles fences in due course.

“There is a misconception that we have underraced Diamond Harry,” Williams said, “but all the really good horses don't take much racing. And I want to win those big races: Gold Cups, Champion Hurdles, Grand Nationals - all with different horses and at different times.”

It's a lot to ask, but then Williams is no shrinking violet in the self-belief stakes. In Diamond Harry, he might just have the horse to make a start.