I Am Maximus made history at the 2026 Randox Grand National, becoming the first horse since the legendary Red Rum to regain the title.
In a race filled with early drama that saw Panic Attack lose out in third place as the third Grangeclare West team of last year’s winner Patrick Mullins, ridden by Nick Lockett, finished first, I Am Maximus followed the familiar path on the inside in the hands of Paul Townend.
As the race began to unfold, Ben Jones made a valiant attempt after two outs to make up for King George’s victory with Jukebox Man, ridden by Joseph O’Brien’s Jordan, but with the JP McManus-owned challenge looming, the strongly supported 9-2 favorite hit a home best after the final jump to win the race for the second time, having finished second 12 months earlier.
This was McManus’ record fourth win in the race, and his Iroko also finished second, two places better than last year. This is also the first time in a race that a single owner has won the first two horses. The Jordans took 3rd place and the Johnny Who took 4th place.
Mullins, who joins Red Rum trainers Ginger McCain and Fred Rimmell as four-time national champion trainers, said: “It was a good call from JP. I was going to go on the Gold Cup route with him, but I felt he was handicapped so I told him to stay with me at Aintree. Paul did that brilliantly.”
“He’s a great horse who rode great, but I think the biggest trouble he had was with his stablemates and co-pilots, they didn’t give him much leeway.
“It’s difficult[to win from the top ranks]but maybe modern nationals are changing and we have a slightly different perspective.
“It’s a race that we aspire to (win). It’s a race that you want to win and be a part of. It’s a tremendous emotion just to have runners.”
“He’s just a superstar. Nothing can faze him. He comes out, does what he’s supposed to do, and wins Nationals.”
He added: “This is the first race we’ve ever seen on TV, it’s the race we all grew up wanting to win, and just having runners there is very emotional.”
Asked if he thought I Am Maximus could further imitate Red Rum with a historic third win next year, Mullins said: “I thought this horse ran Cracker last year, but he just lost.”
“I hope he can be here next year. JP is very interested in the National with ‘I Am Maximus’. He loves this place and said he’s very good at jumping the fences. Hopefully we can all be here next year.”
Townend was overjoyed and said: “He’s tough, right? He’ll run to the end of the world for you.
“He may not have been running with the same enthusiasm as the first year, but I thought the cheekpiece helped in the middle of the race.
“I saw the players going in front of me, but I didn’t intend to chase them. I had enough going OKs in front of me, so I was able to lead until the elbow.”
Home by the Lee too strong in Liverpool Hurdle
Home By The Lee followed up his success in the Stayers Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival with another dominant performance in the Jet2 Liverpool Hurdle.
Jockey Joseph O’Brien’s 11-year-old won a shocking 33-1 at Prestbury Park, but fell far short in the standings at 5-1, completing the double crown achieved by Sire du Berlay in 2023.
Following the enterprising mount of JJ Slevin, Homevisory was asked to stride out on the three-mile Grade 1 second circuit. Several of the favorites were stacked up into the home straight, waiting to be challenged, but one by one they withered away as the veteran galloped to a seven-length victory.
Home by the Lee (centre) wins the Liverpool Hurdle
“He’s been a star for years and we’re obviously learning about him,” O’Brien said.
“He’s had great runs in a lot of the stay races, but if you asked me at the start of the year whether I thought he would win the two races at Cheltenham and here, it would be a dream to think so.
“The plan today was for JJ to pick up the pace once they got down the back straight, and he really picked up the pace down the back. We said whoever won today was going to beat us, and he beat them all.
“Everyone said the track here didn’t suit him, but we’ve been changing the way he rides a little bit and we’ve been happy enough to be responsible for his last two trips here.
“He’s obviously an older horse, but he’s in really good form, so I felt that if we can get him here in the same form he was at Cheltenham and employ similar tactics, we could outdo them today.”
