At the end of last week Earle schooled him over some undemanding show-jumps, to sharpen his rhythm, and over an Aintree- style fence.Back in his box after exercise, Dextra Dove received visitors. "But the main thing is that we get Dexy back in one piece."Earle has ridden the horse in all his final preparation work since he returned from the care of Mary Bromiley in Lambourn, where he was treated for a little shoulder niggle. "Aintree would be a wonderful place to take it over pounds 100,000," Earle said. We had all the family there for a real party." The winnings topped up Dextra Dove's total earnings, which at present stand at pounds 99,000. The gelding was his last winner as a jockey, and his first as a trainer, one day at Worcester "That was a fairytale. And the drop is still the same at Becher's."Such obstacles naturally concern Earle, whose affection for Dextra Dove is clearly limitless.

Anyone who thinks it is easy should go and take a close look at The Chair - it's awesome. The way that the fences there are built, the horses have to take off very steeply, which means they land steeply. "But there is no way that the National has become an ordinary race. If whips had been banned, Dexy would never have won a race."Maude will not be short of advice from the trainer, who as a jockey led the Grand National on Mister Christian in 1991 "People say they have made Aintree easier," he said. He knows that you have to give Dexy a whack to get him going.

"He needs things to watch - cars in the distance, the hunt running across the fields - to keep him sharp."The man tasked with keeping him awake and up to his work at Aintree is Chris Maude, something of a course specialist "Chris knows the horse and the course. The yard is small - only 14 horses this year - and well situated on good galloping ground on a hill with sensational views over the Blackmoor Vale in deepest Dorset.This is not a travelogue: the views are important "Dexy gets bored terribly easily," Earle said. He owes his name to the stable's sponsors, Dextra Lighting Systems, a company belonging to Earle's brother- in-law. He is a rather beautiful dapple grey, with a flashy silver mane, and he is sure to attract sentimental support for the Grand National along with the other grey in the field, Suny Bay, despite the fact that no horse of this colour has won the race since Nicolaus Silver in 1961.Dextra Dove has been with Earle since he was a four-year-old.