Mr Vango given Eider entry after Sandown misfire

Mr Vango will bid to get his season back on track in the Virgin Bet Daily Extra Places Eider Handicap Chase at Newcastle on Saturday, provided he has overcome a minor foot issue.

Last season’s Midlands Grand National winner made an excellent start to the new campaign when narrowly beaten by Twig in the Becher Chase at Aintree, teeing him up for a potential tilt at the Grand National itself in April if the ground is deemed soft enough.

The 10-year-old was disappointingly pulled up on his most recent appearance at Sandown, but trainer Sara Bradstock believes she has a viable excuse for that below-par performance and hopes he can show his true colours in this weekend’s recognised Grand National trial in the north east.

“The plan is to run, but at the moment he’s got special shoes on because he came back from Sandown with an abscess under a corn,” said Bradstock.

“That is the only proviso – he’s obviously got to have those off and his racing plates on and I’ll have to make sure he’s not feeling it at all before we declare him on Thursday.

“He was hopping lame the day after Sandown. He had a horrible abscess underneath the corn. He always suffers with his corns and he manages quite well, but this time he had an abscess under it, so it’s not surprising he ran as he did – Jack (Tudor) thought he probably felt it going round the first right-handed corner.

“I don’t want to wait for the Midlands National because he doesn’t bounce back that quickly from a run, and it would be quick enough from there to Aintree.

“If we can run on Saturday we will, but I just want to make sure he’s not feeling it at all.”

Mr Vango heads 19 horses left in the Eider Chase following Monday’s confirmation stage and he will have to give upwards of a stone away to each of his rivals barring Thomas Gibney’s Intense Raffles.

Bradstock added: “The 12 stone is of less detriment to something as big as him, albeit it’s still a lot of weight to give away to the rest.

“The other thing is, ridiculously, it might just dry up. There’s not much rain this week, but I don’t think it’s not going to dry to too fast for him, and it is over four miles and a furlong obviously.”

Other leading contenders include Nick Gifford’s Aworkinprogress, the Sam Thomas-trained Jubilee Express and Anglers Crag, who claimed this prize two years ago for Brian Ellison and was last seen making a winning stable debut for Nicky Richards at Carlisle in November.