1) I AM MAXIMUS (age 9, weight 11st 12lb)
There was a lot going on in the spring of 1974. Abba won Eurovision, Manchester United were relegated and Red Rum became the most recent horse to win the Grand National under what was then the top weight of 12 stone. Just over half a century later, last year’s winner will attempt to emulate the greatest Aintree hero of them all and defy top weight, and though he is higher in the ratings, he won so readily 12 months ago that he would surely have done so with another 8lb on his back. Lacklustre in two runs this campaign but Willie Mullins will have been working backwards from here and he seems highly likely to leave that form behind now he is back at the scene of his greatest triumph.
2) ROYALE PAGAILLE (11yo, 11st 9lb)
It is a sign of the consistently high standard in a modern National that several runners towards the top of the weights have previously won a race at Grade One level – the pinnacle of jumps racing. Only Venetia Williams’s 11-year-old, though, has done so in the current season, having landed the Betfair Chase at Haydock for the second year running back in November. He is very much a Haydock specialist, however and also prefers deep ground to show his best form, so two important boxes remain unticked, while 11 would be an unusually advanced age for a modern National winner.
3) NICK ROCKETT (8yo, 11st 8lb)
The six-runner squad from Willie Mullins’s stable this year is two short of last year’s eight-strong challenge, but there is more strength in depth and this is the third Mullins runner near the top of the weights with very plausible claims. Spring ground seems to bring out the best in him and he was a close third – behind yet another fancied stable companion, Minella Cocooner – in the big end-of-season chase at Sandown last year. Also has fair form with both Intense Raffles and Perceval Legallois, albeit on better terms than today’s, and with Patrick Mullins holding the reins, a first father/son success since Papillon for Ted and Ruby Walsh in 2000 is no forlorn hope.
4) GRANGECLARE WEST (9yo, 11st 8lb)
Arrives at Aintree having had the bare minimum of six starts over fences required to qualify for the line-up, and one of the half-dozen was a Grade One win and another, a close second in the Irish Gold Cup in February with two subsequent Cheltenham Festival winners further down the field. It is the profile of a horse with untapped potential and must have made him a devilishly difficult runner for Martin Greenwood, the handicapper, to assess, but the decision to give him just 4lb less to carry than last year’s comfortable winner, for his first start beyond an extended three miles, does not scream Good Samaritan levels of generosity.
5) HEWICK (10yo, 11st 7lb)
Came with a rare old rattle to win the King George VI Chase, one of the season’s most prestigious Grade One events, at Kempton in December 2023, prompting raucous scenes in the winner’s enclosure as Shark Hanlon, his larger-than-life trainer, led the celebrations as only he can. Technically at least, he switched to Tara Lee Cogan mid-season while the trainer served a six-month suspension, but Hanlon returned in time to saddle him for a confidence-boosting win over hurdles last month. A high-class chaser who stays well and loves spring ground, and very much in the mix.
6) MINELLA INDO (12yo, 11st 3lb)
The winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, no less, back in 2021, and a very commendable third in this race 12 months ago having held a narrow lead over the last. For a stride or two, it looked as though Rachael Blackmore might be on the way to a second National triumph, but his age started to show as I Am Maximus, three years his junior, sprinted clear on the run-in. This is his second chance to become only the third horse – after Golden Miller and L’Escargot – to win both the Gold Cup and the National, but he is just 1lb lower in the weight ratings and a whole year older this time around, so will do well just to match last year’s performance.
7) APPRECIATE IT (11yo, 11st 2lb)
Seemed to have the jumping world at his hooves after running out a 24-length winner of the Supreme Novice Hurdle at Cheltenham in March 2021, but has had a stop-start career ever since and a six-length win in January was his first since his novice season in in 2022/23. Like his stable companion, Grangeclare West, he is running in a handicap for the first time, but has much more form in the book to give the assessor a steer and looks far less likely to improve for the marathon trip.
8) MINELLA COCOONER (9yo, 11st 2lb)
The fifth representative of Team Mullins in the top nine in the weights is without a win this season, but that has not stopped him creeping steadily closer to the market leaders in the betting in recent weeks as the likelihood of decent ground has increased. His popularity is not simply down to a narrow success on good going in last season’s Bet365 Gold Cup – although it is a compelling piece of form in the circumstances – but also a close third behind Intense Raffles in last year’s Irish Grand National. Behind both Nick Rockett and Intense Raffles in the Bobbyjo in February but will find the Aintree trip and conditions right up his street if, as seems likely, the National has been the plan for the best part of a year.
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Verdict: right blend of speed, class and stamina for a modern National, but yet to show his best form this year
9) CONFLATED (11yo, 11st 2lb)
A dual Grade One winner in Ireland back in 2022, but without a win of any kind since the second of those successes and beat just one rival home on his sole start at anything close to the National trip. Has been keeping decent company for the most part and travelled well in a handicap at Cheltenham last time until a bad mistake two out. There are few runners this year that can be easily dismissed, and here’s the exception to prove the rule.
10) STUMPTOWN (8yo, 11st 2lb)
Gavin Cromwell briefly had the 3-1 National favourite in his yard before Inothewayurthinkin, the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, was scratched in mid-March, but his other winner at last month’s Cheltenham festival – where he carried top weight to victory in the Cross Country Handicap – could prove a very able deputy. Several Aintree heroes of recent years, including the dual winner Tiger Roll, have either won or run well over those unusual obstacles as an Aintree prep, and it was noticeable that Stumptown’s stamina did not kick in until very late in the day.
11) HITMAN (9yo, 11st 1lb)
Part-owned by Sir Alex Ferguson but has developed a very un-Fergie-like habit of succumbing to last-gasp defeats. Finished second for the third year running in the Denman Chase at Newbury in February – the 10th time in all that he has filled the runner-up’s spot in 23 starts over fences – and appeared to be simply outstayed by the winner, which does not bode well for his chance of getting home over an extra mile-and-a-quarter.
12) BEAUPORT (9yo, 11st 1lb)
Bryan Burrough’s blue and orange colours are already a part of Aintree folklore having been aboard Jenny Pitman’s Corbiere, the first National winner saddled by a female trainer, in 1983. Forty-two years on, his latest contender has Grade One quality over hurdles allied with limitless stamina, as evidenced by wins in both the Midlands and Berkshire Nationals in 2024. His previously iffy jumping has also been much improved this season, and the course should be more forgiving than it was in Corbiere’s era if he does throw in the odd mistake. All in all, Nigel Twiston-Davies’s gelding has plenty in the credit column for a horse priced up at 33-1 and each-way backers could get a big run for their money.
13) BRAVEMANSGAME (10yo, 11st)
Few would have believed it after his wide-margin win in the King George VI Chase at Kempton in December 2022, but the Boxing Day feature is still the most recent victory on his record after 11 subsequent starts and there have been distinct signs in recent months of irreversible decline. Paul Nicholls, of course, has a fine record of bringing horses back to their best on the big days, but he has also looked like a weak finisher at time and younger, keener rivals are likely to have his measure.
14) CHANTRY HOUSE (11yo, 10st 13lb)
A prolific winner in his novice season over fences, including a Grade One double at the Cheltenham and Aintree festivals in 2021, but has become increasingly unreliable with age and acquired a Timeform “squiggle”. Was an odds-shot when he became JP McManus’s 4,000th winner as an owner when he won the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham in 2022, but his chance of becoming McManus’s fourth winner of the Grand National are at least 50 points bigger.
15) THREEUNDERTHRUFIVE (10yo, 10st 12lb)
His fourth-place finish in the Scottish Grand National in 2023 is a standout piece of form in the context of this race, but two years later it looks more like a career-high. Also looks like something of an Ascot specialist these days – which is a right-handed track, unlike left-handed Aintree – so his fair run into a close second there last time out is perhaps not as encouraging as it might seem. Does at least have consistency on his side, but it takes much more than that to win a National.
16) PERCEVAL LEGALLOIS (8yo, 10st 12lb)
Like Stumptown, a runner for Gavin Cromwell’s Gold Cup-winning yard, and a fascinating “dark” horse to boot. He landed an ultra-competitive handicap hurdle at Leopardstown in February, backing up a win in a similarly warm race over fences at the same track at Christmas when Nick Rockett was back in fourth, and he renews rivalry on 2lb better terms. In early versions of the legend of the Knights of the Round Table, it was Perceval Legallois, and not Sir Galahad, who was packed off to look for the Holy Grail. His latter-day namesake might just be the one to bring it home on Saturday.
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Verdict: big-field form, on the upgrade and potential improver for the step up, a must for any shortlist
17) KANDOO KID (9yo, 10st 11lb)
Put away until the National weights were out after winning one of the most competitive handicap chases in the first part of the year, and the sense of satisfaction mixed with expectation that radiated from Paul Nicholls on that chilly November afternoon is still fresh in the mind. A pity, then, that he put a distinct blot on his form back at Newbury in early March, finishing a lacklustre eighth over two-and-a-half miles. He should improve for the return to a more suitable trip, but there is still a nagging sense that you should not be trying to make excuses for a potential National winner.
18) IROKO (7yo, 10st 11lb)
The only runner from a British stable priced up below 20-1 and deservedly so, despite what is, on the face of it, a somewhat uninspiring record of just one win in seven starts over fences. Came good in the spring of his novice season over hurdles with a win at the Cheltenham festival, and his half-dozen starts since a winning chase debut have all carried hints that he is building up to something big. Latest second behind the top-class Grey Dawning was a new career-best on ratings and he was staying on again at the line. Arguably little juice left in his price, but a big chance all the same.
19) INTENSE RAFFLES (7yo, 10st 10lb)
It’s all been about the National for Tom Gibney’s seven-year-old since his win in the Irish Grand National in April last year. There were two low-key runs over hurdles – where he finished ninth of 20 and 14th of 19, not that it matters – before the Aintree weights came out, and then a much-improved return to fences in the Bobbyjo at Navan, often a key Aintree trial. He was second behind Nick Rockett there but looked much the likelier of the pair to appreciate a return to a well-run race over a longer trip.
20) SENIOR CHIEF (8yo, 10st 10lb)
Arrives with the minimum six races required to get a run, and was a big fancy for the valuable Coral Gold Cup at Newbury in November where he ran well to finish sixth, though his jumping was a little ragged in the closing stages. It’s arguable that jumping isn’t the key here any more, however, and has a very fair weight for a horse with his best days in front of him. Rachael Blackmore could have ridden him, though, and opted for Minella Indo instead, which dampens enthusiasm slightly.
21) IDAS BOY (11yo, 10st 10lb)
A rebuff to anyone who claimed that the romance of the Grand National is dead, Richard Phillips’s 11-year-old was bought for £60,000 a few months ago by a group of friends styling themselves the Dozen Dreamers. In their dreams is the only place he is likely to be making much of a show, though, as there is next to nothing in his form to offer encouragement and every reason to think he is on the downslope of his career.
24) FIL DOR (7yo, 10st 9lb)
Has a rating that gets him a run in a National thanks to a decent career in mainly second-tier events over fences, and after an excellent season as a four-year-old over hurdles. But there’s just one win on his record – in a two-horse race at odds of 1-50 – since he was sold for an eye-watering €620,000 in February 2024, and has no form over an extended trip to suggest that he will repay any of that on Saturday. Ouch.
23) BROADWAY BOY (7yo, 10st 9lb)
Noble Yeats, at 50-1, broke the long losing streak of seven-year-olds in the National just three years ago, which shows it can be done. He did at least arrive at Aintree in decent form, though, whereas this one is struggling to recapture his early promise earlier in the season. Ran Kandoo Kid to less than two lengths in the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury in November but has been way below his best in two outings since and his run in the Ultima at Cheltenham – when he set off as a fancied 11-1 shot – was too bad to be true.
24) COKO BEACH (10yo, 10st 9lb)
Back for his fourth attempt to win a Grand National, after three previous outings with no whiff of a reason to think he has it in him to win. Was an obvious non-stayer in both 2022 and 2023 after racing up with the pace for a circuit-and-a-half, and then again last year under a more restrained ride, when he crossed the line 33 lengths behind I Am Maximus. If you picked him in the office sweep, it is definitely not your lucky day.
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Verdict: proven non-stayer in 2022, never mind 2023 and 2024, and you can’t change what’s in their genes
25) STAY AWAY FAY (8yo, 10st 9lb)
Had three different jockeys in as many days earlier in the week, as first Bryony Frost and then Jonathan Burke informed Paul Nicholls that, having agreed to take the ride, they had to stay home to wash their hair. Or something. In Burke’s case, the something was a booking for a very live contender in Minella Cocooner (and Frost was required in France) but the bottom line is that this is a horse struggling – and failing – to recapture the form of his youth over hurdles, when he was a Grade One winner in the three-mile novice at Cheltenham.
26) MEETINGOFTHEWATERS (8yo, 10st 7lb)
The last of Willie Mullins’s six runners in weight order is a lot further down the list than his five stable companions, a point that the trainer noted favourably when the handicap was published in February. But it is much the same mark that he had last year – 1lb higher, in fact – and he was 16 lengths behind I Am Maximus at the line then, while his two chase starts this season have not suggested that his form has gone up another notch or two.
27) MONBEG GENIUS (9yo, 10st 6lb)
Hit the headlines in the run-up to this race last year amid speculation that Jonjo O’Neill’s gelding might be among the £75m of assets of his former owners, Doug Barrowman and Michelle Mone, that had been frozen during an investigation into £202m of contracts awarded to their firm PPE Medpro during the Covid-19 pandemic. He was, as it turned out, free to race, but was scratched a few weeks before Aintree and later sold to new owners at the O’Neill yard. It is, on the face of it, the kind of tangled back story that often attaches itself to a National winner, and he broke a long losing run on heavy ground at Uttoxeter last time out. Quicker ground at Aintree will be a big issue, though, as all he does is stay.
28) VANILLIER (10yo, 10st 6lb)
Lost his way somewhat after a fine staying-on second behind Corach Rambler in this race two years ago, when he started his run from the outskirts of Ormskirk, but blinkers for his last two starts, both over cross-country courses, have sparked a definite renaissance and he did particularly well to finish eight lengths behind Stumptown at Cheltenham last month having lost all of that and more when his jockey nearly took the wrong course. Place claims at least on that form, though one or two rivals might do him for speed from the last.
29) HORANTZAU D’AIRY (8yo, 10st 6lb)
If there is a runner in this year’s that screams “Netflix mini-series”, it has to be this one. Bought online via the racing equivalent of eBay, and sent to a young Newmarket trainer less than six months into his solo career who has yet to saddle a single winner over jumps. Newmarket has not produced a National winner since Golden Miller in the 1930s so the plotlines are all there for one of the great Aintree stories, and Michael Keady’s runner is at least a sound jumper who should get around. What really takes some believing, though, is that Willie Mullins would ever let him go if he felt he still had a Grand National in him.
30) HYLAND (8yo, 10st 6lb)
Gaping holes on otherwise glittering training cvs do not come much bigger than the one on Nicky Henderson’s record where the Grand National should be. The first of his 43 runners in the race – Zongalero, in 1979 – finished second, as did The Tsarevich eight years later, but it has otherwise been a near 50-year tale of woe, with more than half of his starters failing to finish. Still, every trend is there to be broken and there is plenty to like about Hyland’s profile: right age, just six runs over fences, form in Grade One company and a promising run last time out, when he was second in a well-run race at Kempton. Could well be Henderson’s best chance for at least 20 years, though he might just lack the finishing speed of a few classier rivals.
31) CELEBRE D’ALLEN (13yo, 10st 6lb)
The only teenager in this year’s field does at least have some idea of what to expect, having lined up for the Topham Chase over these fences in April 2023 and then Becher Chase eight months later. He finished both races, but looked likely to play a hand in the finish of the latter contest until his stamina visibly drained away after jumping the last. Has an extra mile or so to cover today and will not be threatening Sergeant Murphy’s 102-year-old status as the last 13-year-old to win the National.
32) THREE CARD BRAG (8yo, 10st 5lb)
Looks much the best of Gordon Elliott’s five-strong team for this year’s race but that’s not saying much as the other four are all priced up at 66-1 or bigger. Has the bare six chase starts in the book but only one win, in a beginners’ race at Navan in January, and his jumping was also a little scrappier than usual when he was beaten in Grade Two at the same track a month later. The two horses in front of him there went on to finish second and third in a Grade One at Cheltenham, but the balance of his form suggests a relatively short price owes more to his trainer’s excellent record in the race.
33) TWIG (10yo, 10st 5lb)
Shares a father with a Grand National winner as the 33-1 shot Rule The World, victorious in 2016, was also sired by Sulamani, who took the French Derby in 2002. That, though, is about as tenuous as it gets in the search for an Aintree bet, and while he spent the early part of the season running over hurdles to protect his handicap mark, there was next to nothing about his return to chasing in the Grimthorpe at Doncaster in March that offers real encouragement.
34) DUFFLE COAT (8yo, 10st 4lb)
Managed to sneak in at the bottom of the weights but has just one win in 13 starts over fences and that was off a rating more than a stone below his mark here. He was, admittedly, in the process of outrunning his odds of 50-1 when he was brought down in a race at Cheltenham’s festival last month, but not to the extent that he could be on anyone’s mind for a National.