Sara Bradstock has spoken of the affection in which she holds Saturday's Haydock hero Mr Vango, with a Randox Grand National tilt now looking a possibility with the "absolute giant" of a horse.
The nine-year-old, who was picked up for £30,000 after winning a three-mile point-to-point at Horseheath in February 2022, added a third win over fences to his growing tally with a strong staying performance in the Sky Bet Peter Marsh Handicap Chase.
Bradstock, who along with late husband Mark trained the likes of Carruthers to win the Hennessy Gold Cup in 2011 and famously landed the Cheltenham Gold Cup with novice Coneygree four years later, is now considering a shot at the 2025 Randox Grand National with her current stable star.
There is one significant caveat to that project, however, the trainer explaining on Monday's Nick Luck Daily Podcast: "If we can get some really soft ground, he would be plundering on at the end. On good to soft ground he would find the pace all too fast and furious for him. If we got a Red Marauder (type) National, I feel like he really would have a good chance."
Mr Vango ended last season being pulled-up when favourite for the Scottish Grand National at Ayr, having been a well-beaten third to Corbetts Cross in the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham, but is now two from two this time around after backing up last month's Sandown win with a three-length verdict over Iwilldoit at the weekend.
There were some concerns within the camp, however, that three miles on soft ground at Haydock might not have been enough of a stamina test for what his trainer describes as "a giant, the biggest thoroughbred I've ever seen."
She said: "We went (to Haydock) because we need to be governed by ground and he needs very testing conditions. Three miles around there would be very much on the short side for him, and we weren't convinced that it was tiring enough ground. As a young horse, it was a standing joke in that everyone thought he was so slow. We've trained a little bit of speed into him but not too much."
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So what inspired the purchase of a horse who had such a reputation for not doing anything quickly?
Bradstock recalled: "We saw him win (his point-to-point) and he beat a horse who has turned out to be okay called Santos Blue by a distance, going away. So we went to the Cheltenham sale thinking we'd have no chance of buying him. We got there to discover he was this absolute giant.
"But he'd won by so far that we thought there was definitely something about him so we were delighted to be able to buy him for 30 grand. I think it's perfectly possible we were the only bidder, I think that was the reserve on him. And there were several trainers who will remain nameless who told us 'well, he is very slow...'. So now I'm able to put two fingers up at them!
"The good point was that he was so big that we knew that we could make him stronger and help his balance. But when we first did a bit of work on him we realised why he had such a reputation for being slow. He quite often goes up the gallop with a non-racehorse to make him feel a bit better about himself. But he certainly doesn't have big gears.
"He's charming (to train), but because he's so big, he puts a lot of pressure through his feet, so our farrier does a very good job. And the fact that we've always made a thing of riding our horses in a balanced way, not just going for speed, has helped him enormously.
"Mark would have loved it and that's what nearly made me cry on the television. The wonderful thing is that this is what he really wanted, for me to go on and put some more horses in the yard. And he loved a gallant, staying chaser, and that's just what he (Mr Vango) is.
"He would have been the first to be joking about the fact that he can't go very fast, but also very aware that if you can keep the enthusiasm going and they've got his stamina and jump that well, that there are definitely races to be won. And I think his cruising speed is improving all the time!
"I just love having a horse that we can dream about."
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