Make no mistake, when it comes to training racehorses, Aston Rowant handler Lawney Hill means business.

Based just off the M40, nestled snugly within the Chiltern Hills, Hill has had quite a season with her talented 23-strong team.

And on Friday, it will be Ski Sunday’s moment to underscore her right to dine at the most esteemed table in jumps racing – as he tackles the Vincent O’Brien County Handicap Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

“You’d have to think there’s more improvement since his Kempton win, so it’s all obviously very exciting from a Cheltenham point of view,” said Hill.

“But it’s silly getting too carried away at this stage though because you never quite know what’s around the corner.”

Hill is more qualified to make that assessment than most after her mother, Sally, was paralysed from the waist down in a hunting fall in November 1985 before dying in 2004.

Such personal upheaval became painfully exacerbated by the deaths of her father and step-father within a two-year period, while her husband, Alan, was diagnosed with testicular cancer, from which he has since recovered, just two weeks after her mother’s funeral.

A proud mother-of-two, Hill’s forward momentum means there is seldom time to mope, instead choosing to look to the future with cautious optimism.

Little wonder, with horses like Ski Sunday in the yard.

Perhaps fittingly, the gelding is not a run-of-the-mill animal, having last year suffered an injury which led to him being blind in his left eye.

He has also had a rather turbulent passage into the hands of Hill after formerly being in the care of Tim Vaughan, for whom he finished second in the 2009 Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle at the Festival, and then with Nicky Henderson for just one outing on the Flat.

Despite his impaired vision and nomadic existence, Ski Sunday was a revelation on his first foray for Hill when claiming a big handicap at Kempton on King George day in January.

“This horse has had quite some journey and has coped with it very well,” considered Hill.

“That was his first run since he went blind in one eye, so you never know how they are going to react.

“He’s very tough, he’s consistent and has that Flat speed which serves him so well.”

Like Ski Sunday, Hill is flourishing with age.

Eighteen jumps winners last season have already been surpassed, while high-profile owners like Dido Harding, of the Cool Dawn legacy, have also jumped on board.

Ski Sunday’s patrons are also well-known, being of Llanelli Scarlets rugby fame.

Welsh fly half Stephen Jones, Kiwi centre Regan King, and Simon Easterby, the former captain, but now on the coaching staff, are the triumvirate responsible for keeping the dream alive.