HAYLEY Gee's dreams of riding in a race on Grand National Day face their first big test this weekend.

The 28-year-old York solicitor's secretary will have to find a path through the competition when she attends an assessment programme at the Northern Racing College in Doncaster.

Hayley is down to the last 32 in the John Smith's People's Race, which offers ten ordinary people a chance to compete in a charity Flat at Aintree in April.

Thousands entered the competition online and the 32 will be whittled down to 16 who will then be put through their paces by leading racecourse trainers until a final ten are selected to ride in front of 70,000 in Liverpool and a television audience of millions.

Among the hopefuls are a carpenter, a pub landlord and an ex-professional footballer.

Hayley is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Helperby dental practice manager Vanessa Marston, who finished second in last year's race on board the Mick Easterby-trained Turbo.

The inaugural event was won impressively by Kevin Old, on board Hoo La Baloo.

Last year, more than £100,000 was raised for good causes and, this time around, the brewer organisers have an ambitious half-a-million pound charity target.

Hayley, a former showjumper who has been riding horses since she was five-years-old, said she had been doing fitness work in the gym in a bid to prepare herself for the weekend's exertions and added she would be striving to do her best.

"I am obviously a little bit nervous but I am really looking forward to it," she said. "I have been in the gym and I have been putting the hours in, although I haven't been riding.

"I know there will be some interviews and some health and fitness checks and that some people may not make it through to a second day.

"There will be riding out on the Sunday.

"I really want to make it through and I can only give my best."