I Am Maximus regains Grand National crown, makes history at Aintree

I Am Maximus did more than win the Grand National, he reclaimed it. In a chaotic renewal at Aintree, the 9/2 favourite powered home under Paul Townend to become the first horse since Red Rum to regain the race’s crown, sealing a second Grand National triumph and giving Willie Mullins another place in the record book.

The race was as messy as the winner was polished. Loose horses, falls, unseats and pulled-up runners turned the Grand National into a survival test, and only 16 of the 34 starters made it to the finish. I Am Maximus, carrying 11st 12lb, stayed out of trouble on the inside, saved ground when others were flung wide by the chaos, and produced the decisive late run that settled the race in the final strides.

That weight matters. The Jockey Club said no horse had carried a heavier winning impost in this century, and the performance landed with even more force because I Am Maximus was not sneaking in under the radar. He went off favourite, raced off an official rating of 168, and answered every test the race threw at him. The 10-year-old bay gelding, foaled on 27 March 2016 and bred in France by Authorized out of Polysheba, has now stamped himself as a serious staying-chase force, not just a one-day wonder.

The result also rewrote the human side of the record book. Mullins took his fourth Grand National training success and became the first trainer since Vincent O’Brien to complete three consecutive wins in the race. J.P. McManus, the owner, moved to four Grand National victories and became the most successful owner in the race’s history, a remarkable return on a horse that had already won the National in 2024 before losing the title for a year.

Iroko finished second, Jordans was third, with Johnnywho fourth and High Class Hero fifth in the official order. For Townend, the ride was about patience and timing rather than heroics, and for Mullins the day confirmed what the pre-race numbers already suggested: this horse was built to dominate when the race broke apart.

The wider Aintree meeting carried a darker edge. Gold Dancer was euthanised after suffering a broken back in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase the previous day, and Robbie Dunne was taken to hospital after a heavy fall in the National. Against that backdrop, I Am Maximus’s victory will be remembered not just as a second crown, but as one of the toughest, most dramatic Grand Nationals of the modern era.