Enchantingly old-school Mr Vango can thrill with Welsh Grand National win
When jumping fans of any age talk about a “proper, old-fashioned steeplechaser”, they have a strapping colossus of a horse in mind, with the strength to keep jumping and powering on through the deepest of winter ground when lesser rivals have cried enough.A horse like Pendil or The Dikler in the 1970s, Desert Orchid or Carvill’s Hill a decade or so later, or Denman lugging top weight to victory in the Hennessy – when it still was the Hennessy, back in 2009.Or, in the here and now, a horse like Mr Vango, the second-favourite for Saturday’s Welsh Grand National at Chepstow.Even in a year when Harry Redknapp has a live runner in the King George VI Chase at Kempton a day earlier, a win for Mr Vango this weekend would quite possibly be the most popular and heartwarming result of the entire festive racing programme.Everything about Sara Bradstock’s nine-year-old is defiantly, and enchantingly, old-school, from his massive frame and engine to the amount of time he has been given to develop and mature.
He is the latest in a long line of proper, old-fashioned steeplechasers to emerge from the historic Old Manor Stables, near Wantage in Oxfordshire, which stretches all the way back to the legendary Golden Miller, the only horse to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup five times in a row in the 1930s, and also includes three Grand National winners trained at the yard by the late Tim Forster in the 1970s and 1980s.More recently, it was home to the magnificent half-brothers, Carruthers and the 2015 Gold Cup winner, Coneygree, who were both trained by Bradstock alongside her late husband, Mark, and bred by her father, the journalist, broadcaster and one-time amateur jockey, Lord Oaksey.In a modern age of jumping when young chasing prospects change hands for six-figure sums, Mr Vango was a “store” horse that – by design – did not line up for a race of any kind until he was a six-year-old.Plenty of his rivals on Saturday were snapped up for big money as four- or five-year-olds after showing form over fences in an Irish point-to-point or in the French provinces, to race for owners who look for an immediate return on their investment.Mr Vango was sold as a foal for €7,000 (£6,000) in November 2016, but then disappeared from view for more than five years before winning a Cambridgeshire point-to-point in February 2022.
That was a few days before he was sold to join the Bradstock stable for £30,000, a relative pittance in modern jumping.Mr Vango was a winner for the yard over hurdles but had such size and strength that he was always going to be a much better chaser.His second race over fences was a 60-length success on bottomless ground in the Devon National at Exeter in February 2024, a few weeks before Mark Bradstock died.Sara Bradstock is now in her second full season as the sole licence-holder at Old Manor, and her children, Lily and Alfie, are also important members of a team that is dedicated to “keeping the legendary Bradstock magic alive”.In her first season, she saddled six winners from 17 runners, a remarkable strike-rate of 35%, that included a perfect three-from-three campaign by Mr Vango with wins in the London National at Sandown, the Peter Marsh Chase at Haydock and the Midlands Grand National at Uttoxeter.
The Grand National itself is now an obvious end-of-season target for Mr Vango, as his stirring, front-running success under top weight at Uttoxeter was enough to push his rating well past the cut-off point for recent Nationals.He was raised a further 3lb, to 155, after a battling second place over the National fences on his return to action at Aintree earlier this month, but can race off his old mark of 152 on Saturday.Elegant Escape, who won off 157 in 2018, and Native River – a subsequent Gold Cup winner, no less – who won off 151 in 2016, have both defied similar marks in recent years, but a whole host of strong opponents with far less weight on their backs will be doing their utmost to stop Mr Vango doing the same.The King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day looks like one of the strongest renewals for years, rich with established top-class chasers and fast-improving novices alike.The Savills Chase at Leopardstown on Sunday is expected to pit March’s Gold Cup winner, Inothewayurthinkin, against Galopin Des Champs, the Cheltenham hero in the previous two seasons.
But for the steeplechasing purists, there may be nothing this Christmas to rival the sight of the magnificent, front-running Mr Vango, setting off with three-and-three-quarter miles of Welsh turf ahead of him to try to jump and gallop his rivals into submission.
The Guide #222: From Celebrity Traitors to The Brutalist via Bad Bunny – our roundup of the culture that mattered in 2025
It’s time to look back on a year of Traitors and Sinners, of Bad Bunnies and Such Brave Girls, with the Guide’s now annual roundup of the year’s best culture. As ever, the Guardian is already knee-deep in lists – of films (UK and US), albums (across rock and pop, and classical), TV shows, books and games, and theatre, comedy and dance. Some of those have already counted down to No 1, others will reach their respective summits in the coming days, so keep an eye on the homepage.Our list meanwhile is entirely, unapologetically partial, and definitely not as comprehensive as The Guardian’s many top 50s: there are numerous albums we never got around to hearing, and TV shows we’re still only halfway through. (Pluribus, Dope Thief and Blue Lights, I will return to you, I promise!) But hopefully it should give a flavour of a year that, despite so many headwinds, was a pretty strong one for culture
From Avatar to Amadeus: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
Avatar: Fire and AshOut now James Cameron comes down with a case of the Christmas blues, so to speak, as the director’s record-breaking franchise epic returns once more to planet Pandora for more internecine strife and respecting of the splendour of the natural world, rendered in dazzling motion-capture glory.Silent Night, Deadly NightOut now Actor Rohan Campbell graduates from Michael Myers wannabe in the fairly dire Halloween Ends, to main bogeyman Billy Chapman in the latest instalment of the Silent Night, Deadly Night franchise (second remake, seventh film overall, fact fans). Per franchise lore, he witnessed his parents’ murder-by-Santa aged five, and the rest is grisly history.Fackham HallOut now Jimmy Carr turns his hand to screenwriting with this parody of Downton Abbey-type films. Given the actual Downton Abbey films already play as a parody of Downtown Abbey-type films, there may not be much to add, but a cast including Thomasin McKenzie, Katherine Waterston, Damian Lewis and Anna Maxwell Martin are here to give it their best shot
Jimmy Kimmel on a tumultuous year: ‘Don’t know what the American way even is any more’
Late-night hosts reflected on a rollercoaster 2025 and Donald Trump’s combative, primetime year-end address to the nation.Jimmy Kimmel opened his final monologue of 2025 with an emotional reflection on a tumultuous year. “This has been a strange year. It’s been a hard year,” he said. “We’ve had some lows
Jimmy Kimmel on Trump’s speech: ‘Surprise primetime episode of The Worst Wing’
Late-night hosts discussed – or ignored – Donald Trump’s surprise primetime address and dug further into the explosive new interview the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles.Jimmy Kimmel opened his Wednesday night show with an acknowledgment of the president’s 9pm ET national address, also known as a “surprise primetime episode of The Worst Wing tonight on every channel”.Trump announced only on Tuesday that he would deliver an impromptu fireside chat during the season finales of Survivor and The Floor. “It’s weird to think that had a couple of states just gone the other way, he’d be hosting one of those shows,” Kimmel joked. “Trump shouldn’t be pre-empting The Floor
The 50 best albums of 2025: No 3 – Blood Orange: Essex Honey
Dev Hynes’ deeply personal response to his mother’s death embodied the many unexpected shades of grief in pastoral hymnals and post-punk The 50 best albums of 2025 More on the best culture of 2025There’s a lot of grief across the best albums of this year. It’s unsurprising: 2025 has felt like a definitive and dismal break with government accountability, protections for marginalised people and holding back the encroachment of AI in creative and intellectual fields, to cherrypick just a few horrors. Anna von Hausswolff and Rosalía reached for transcendence from these earthly disappointments. Bad Bunny and KeiyaA countered colonial abuse and neglect with writhing resistance anthems. On a more personal scale, Lily Allen and Cate Le Bon grappled with disillusionment about mis-sold romantic ideals
The Hodge report into Arts Council England: ‘Not exactly a ringing endorsement’
The arts in England are underfunded, and were dealt a blow by Covid from which many organisations have not yet recovered. But that has been only part of the story. The sheer weight of required form-filling, the endless bureaucracy, the impracticable length of time it takes to simply be funded by Arts Council England (ACE) have caused universal frustration among those working in the arts. There is much talk of exhaustion and burnout.Many organisations have felt frustrated, too, by the strictures of ACE’s flagship strategy, Let’s Create, which, though admirable in principle, with its focus on participation in the arts, is perhaps tilted too far from recognising the expertise and individuality of artists and arts institutions
US farmers say Trump’s $12bn package not enough to undo damage from tariffs
Bourbon maker Jim Beam stops production at Kentucky site for 2026
Toy touts, random spins and frantic bidding: the murky side of live auction site Whatnot
UK economy entering 2026 amid sharp private sector downturn, says CBI
Sir Alec Reed obituary
Top economists call for halt to Sri Lanka debt repayments after Cyclone Ditwah