Mr Vango

His record reads four wins and eight places from 13 races — a return that would make plenty of trainers quietly satisfied. But the nature of those wins is what really stands out. Two of them have come in Class 1 races, meaning the top tier of British racing, and a third came in a Class 2. These are not soft wins against modest opposition. Mr Vango has been tested at the sharp end and come out the right side. His most recent run came at Uttoxeter in March 2025, where he won a Class 1 — a result that capped a remarkable purple patch of three wins from his last six races.

Haydock Park looks like his favourite place on earth. He has run there three times and won twice, which is the kind of record that makes bookmakers nervous. His very first career win came there in November 2022, and he returned to win another Class 1 there in January 2025. When Mr Vango turns up at Haydock, he tends to mean business.

His partnership with jockey Jack Tudor is worth paying close attention to. The pair have raced together seven times and won three of them — that is a win rate of 43%, which by any measure is an exceptional return. When Tudor is booked, something good usually happens. The horse is trained by Sara Bradstock at her yard in Wantage, Oxfordshire, and while it is a small operation — four winners sent out this season — she has clearly found the key to getting the best out of this horse at the biggest occasions.

Mr Vango has been having a short break since that Uttoxeter win 36 days ago, which suggests the yard are keeping him fresh rather than running him into the ground. At ten years old, with top-level wins already banked this season, he is the kind of horse a newcomer to racing could follow with genuine excitement — consistent, classy, and apparently still improving.