William Hill Half A Mill Becher Handicap Chase |
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| Grade 3 Handicap, National Course, Aintree 14:40 £150,000 guaranteed, 6yo plus, 3m 1f 188y, Class 1  |
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Sara Bradstock is set to let Mr Vango have his first sight of the Grand National fences in Saturday’s Becher Chase at Aintree. The nine-year-old carved out his credentials for the world’s most recognisable steeplechase last term with a hat-trick of staying prizes: the London National at Sandown, the Peter Marsh at Haydock and the gruelling Midlands National at Uttoxeter.
Mr Vango is your Midlands Grand National champion! 🏆@UttoxeterRaces | #ITVRacing pic.twitter.com/zpzw9UyyBt
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) March 15, 2025
Bradstock has waited on softer ground to reintroduce her stable star this season, and with conditions on Merseyside expected to be on the testing side, Mr Vango looks ready to resurface in a race that now offers a £500,000 William Hill bonus should the winner return to take the big one in April.
“They’re calling it good to soft, soft in places on the National course which would do me, but I’d want it to be on the soft side of good to soft,” said Bradstock.
“It’s not going to be his favourite heavy ground, but it should be safe for him and while there is the London National at Sandown on Saturday, which he won last year, if we are half-thinking of aiming him at the National we ought to find out whether he likes the place or not.
“We schooled him over the National fences in Lambourn the other day and he didn’t really notice any difference.
“He’s obviously got top-weight, but if any horse can carry it it’s him and it won’t be too big a field, which is quite nice. If it was heavy ground and four runners that would be perfect!”
Top-weight at 12 stone, Mr Vango heads 13 declarations for the three-and-a-quarter-mile test. Dan Skelton relies on Galia Des Liteaux, eighth in this year’s Grand National on her only previous spin over the famous obstacles, while the Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero partnership keep both Gaboriot and White Rhino in the mix. The pair filled second and ninth in the Grand Sefton over the same course four weeks ago, with Gaboriot also third in that race a year earlier.
Warren Greatrex’s 2023 Topham hero Bill Baxter and the Irish challenger Bioluminescence from Gavin Cromwell’s stable also feature.
Becher Handicap Chase
(Grade 3) (National Course)
£150,000 guaranteed, 6yo plus, 3m 1f 188y, Class 1
13 runners
Going: Good to Soft, Soft in places
NO. FORM HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY
1 P/111- Mr Vango 9 12-0 Mrs Sara V Bradstock Jack Tudor
2 122P-3 Bioluminescence 7 11-9 Gavin Cromwell Keith Donoghue
3 241P6- Monbeg Genius 9 11-6 Jonjo & A J O'Neill Jonjo O'Neill Jr
4 P770-1 Twig 10 11-5 Ben Pauling Beau Morgan
5 5U4-12 Bill Baxter 9 11-1 Warren Greatrex Sam Twiston-Davies
6 576-21 Roi Mage 13 11-0 Patrick Griffin James Reveley
7 11UP-9 White Rhino 9 10-13 Oliver Greenall & Josh Guerriero Craig Nichol
8 754P-5 Galia Des Liteaux 9 10-10 Dan Skelton Tristan Durrell
9 12-224 Mahons Glory 9 10-10 Dylan Cunha Lee Edwards
10 3740-3 Excello 6 10-9 Nicky Henderson James Bowen
11 2320-4 Westerninthepark 7 10-6 Olly Murphy Brian Hughes
12 /112-9 Val Dancer 8 10-6 Mel Rowley Charlie Hammond
13 363P-2 Gaboriot 9 10-2 Oliver Greenall & Josh Guerriero Robert Dunne
