Malton's Peter Easterby picked up the Go Racing In Yorkshire lifetime achievement award at their annual luncheon at York Racecourse.
The 79-year-old passed on the training licence to his son Tim 12 years ago but is still "very much involved" in running the yard at Great Habton.
Easterby told BBC Radio York when he first started training in 1950 he had "no money, no horses and no prospects."
He was champion trainer three times and won the Champion Hurdle five times.
Easterby also achieved the rare feat of training more than 1,000 winners both over jumps and on the flat.
When asked how he achieved so much from a standing start he said: "It's second nature to me. I'm an agricultural man, a farmer and a stockman, and you can tell things by instinct."
Sea Pidgeon won the Champion Hurdle twice but "the biggest cheer I've ever heard in my life was when he won the Ebor at York.
"The announcer got "sea" out and you couldn't hear the other word "Pidgeon" because there was such a roar, so that was very exciting."
Another famous Easterby horse, Night Nurse, ran 10 races in a row without defeat.
"Racing's great. It's a challenge, you always want more winners. When you stop wanting more you might has well pack up.
"I always say to my owners you must have a bottle of champagne when you have a winner, because you might die of thirst before you get the next one," he joked.
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