The initial Grand National entries were announced earlier today, and contain a total of 90 potential runners that will eventually be whittled down to just 34 horses.
Legendary trainer Willie Mullins has somewhat surprisingly only tasted victory in the famous race on two occasions – last year with I Am Maximus, and way back in 2005 courtesy of Hedgehunter. But the Irishman, who has also trained in excess of 100 Cheltenham Festival winners, will have a great chance to make it three wins at Aintree after putting forward a total of 10 horses.
The entry of I Am Maximus was fully expected, with Mullins ultimately eyeing up Red Rum’s record three Grand National victories. Mullins said, “Red Rum won the race three times and Tiger Roll won two. I think JP would be keen to have a horse that could do that – win two and maybe go on for a third one. If you don’t try, you don’t succeed, so that is our plan.”
Other notable Mullins runners on the list include Minella Cocooner and Nick Rockett, but it’s I Am Maximus that is currently the 12/1 favourite to make it back-to-back Grand National victories and collect a winner’s pay cheque worth £500,000.
Although the total number of Grand National entries is down slightly from 94 at this time last year, there are still a number of noteworthy rivals to Mullins.
Intense Raffles, winner of the 2024 Irish Grand National, is set to travel over to the UK for the first time, although 2022 Grand National winner Noble Yeats will miss out this year.
Monbeg Genius caused a storm as a leading ante-post contender last year, as he was owned by Baroness Michelle Mone. There were significant fears within the racing industry that a win would have led to unprecedented scenes of the winning team being booed by the capacity Aintree crowd. That would have cast huge shadows over one of the biggest betting events of the year, which sees £250-300 million wagered on the race annually.
Thankfully though, Mone and her husband have since transferred ownership of the horse to Jonjo O’Neill, and so any further controversy should be avoided this time round.
As with last year, the race will go ahead with a field of no more than 34 runners. The maximum limit was reduced from 40 horses as one of a number of safety led measures brought in to ensure all the runners and riders get round the four mile course unscathed.
The next significant date on the calendar in terms of the Grand National countdown is 11th February, which will see the Grand National weights announced, with the race itself scheduled for 4pm on Saturday 5th April.