John Ingles reflects on a history-making Grand National and the sire behind the latest dual winner.
The history books required quite a bit of updating after the Grand National which was won for the second time by I Am Maximus. It was a record fourth victory for J. P. McManus who also became the first owner to have the first two in a National with Iroko finishing runner-up, while Willie Mullins’ third consecutive win matched the feat of Vincent O’Brien who trained the winner each year from 1953 to 1955.
Mullins also now joins the three earlier trainers to have won the race four times in all, Ginger McCain, Fred Rimell and George Dockeray. McCain needs no introduction thanks to Red Rum, while Rimell’s last winner Rag Trade in 1976 beat Red Rum into second that year. Rimell’s first two winners have become well-known names in Aintree history. E. S. B. was the beneficiary of Devon Loch’s infamous ‘bellyflop’ on the run-in in 1956, while five years later Nicolaus Silver earned fame as one of the few greys to have won the race. Dockeray, a former Derby-winning jockey, is a more obscure name, but his first winner Lottery is much better known, thanks to winning what is often (though not necessarily correctly) regarded as the first running of the National in 1839.
Mullins, and I Am Maximus’ jockey Paul Townend, also achieved the notable treble of the Champion Hurdle, Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand National this season. The same treble had also been accomplished five years earlier by Henry de Bromhead whose Grand National winner Minella Times was another owned by McManus.
And then there’s I Am Maximus himself - the first horse to regain his Grand National title and to carry top weight to victory since the days of Red Rum, in so doing putting up the best winning performance by a Grand National winner in Timeform’s experience. Besides his two Aintree victories, he also has an earlier Irish Grand National win on his CV.
Just think, though, if Nick Rockett hadn’t been in the field last year, or if he’d met a similar fate 12 months ago to Patrick Mullins’ mount in this year’s race, Grangeclare West (unseated first), we would already be hailing I Am Maximus as a triple winner, like Red Rum, but with the unique feat of winning the Grand National three years in succession.
I Am Maximus’s second win in the Grand National highlights an aspect of Mullins’ success as a trainer which is in plain sight but doesn’t get enough credit; his knack of bringing horses back to win the same big race more than once, sometimes a lot more. It is one thing to do it in small-field Grade 1 contests, but quite another in a major handicap, particularly one with such unique challenges as the Grand National.
The list of top races which Mullins has won more than once with the same horse is a long one but includes, at the Cheltenham Festival alone, the Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase and Ryanair Chase. Both of Mullins’ first two Gold Cup winners, Al Boum Photo and Galopin des Champs, retained their crowns, so what price Gaelic Warrior does the same next year? State Man’s fall at the final flight last year cost him back-to-back Champion Hurdles, but Hurricane Fly was a dual winner of the race, winning back his title in 2013 that he had won two years earlier after finishing third in between. The 2022 Champion Chase winner Energumene followed up a year later, as did the 2021 Ryanair winner Allaho, while at the latest Festival Dinoblue retained her title in the Mares’ Chase.
Winning a third Grand National with I Am Maximus would doubtless be Mullins’ greatest feat with his repeat winners, but for now that accolade goes to Quevega’s achievement of being laid out to win a remarkable six editions of the Mares’ Hurdle at Cheltenham between 2009 and 2014. That wasn’t her only domination of a particular race, either, as she won the Champion Stayers Hurdle at Punchestown four years running during the same period.
Other multiple winners of the same race that Mullins has trained include Hurricane Fly again, winner of five Irish Champion Hurdles, four Punchestown Champion Hurdles and four December Hurdles, while Sharjah matched his record in the December Hurdle. Florida Pearl won four Irish Gold Cups, three in a row and the fourth after a three-year gap.
In the 50 years or so since Red Rum, I Am Maximus becomes only the second horse to win the Grand National twice after Tiger Roll, the winner in 2018 and 2019. He was denied a hat-trick bid by the cancellation of the 2020 race where he would have had to defy a BHA mark of 170, 2 lb higher than the mark I Am Maximus won from last weekend.
But I Am Maximus and Tiger Roll have another close connection besides their Aintree heroics as remarkably they’re both sons of Authorized whose previous claim to fame was being Frankie Dettori’s first Derby winner in 2007. Derby winners don’t sire Grand National winners with any regularity, let alone two dual winners! The previous Derby winner to sire a Grand National winner was the 1872 Epsom winner Cremorne whose son Voluptuary, who ran in the Derby himself, was notable for winning the 1884 Grand National on his first start over fences.
Authorized was a strong, good-topped colt in his racing days, but neither of his Grand National winners are typical chasing types on looks and neither have been the best jumpers of a fence to win the race. Tiger Roll was famously described by his owner Michael O’Leary as ‘a little rat of a thing’, while Timeform wasn’t too complimentary about the rather leggy I Am Maximus when he won a Cheltenham bumper on his debut for Nicky Henderson, noting that he was ‘hardly the pick on looks’ in the paddock.
Authorized was one of four Derby winners produced by his top-class sire Montjeu whose stand-out jumper was the aforementioned Hurricane Fly. Perhaps it’s not surprising then, that Mullins has been keen to tap into the Montjeu influence through his sons such as Authorized. Besides I Am Maximus, Mullins’ other runners of note by Authorized include the Stayers’ Hurdle winner Nichols Canyon and the smart hurdlers Echoes In Rain, Ciel de Neige and Anzadam. Mullins’ 2025 Grand National winner Nick Rockett is by another of Montjeu’s sons, Walk In The Park, as were earlier top-class chasers for the stable Douvan and Min.
But while Authorized can count a couple of Grand National heroes among his jumpers, there are others who would fall more easily into the ‘villains’ category among his better horses. Goshen, although he won on the Flat and over hurdles and fences, was far from straightforward, while Mister Coffey, who completed in the 2023 Grand National from a BHA mark of 145 after making much of the running, remains an enigma and is yet to win in 20 attempts over fences.
Montjeu’s fillies in particular were prone to quirkiness on the Flat, and while he transmits plenty of class and stamina, horses with Montjeu in their pedigrees often come with a definite ‘kink’ too. Tiger Roll, who wore headgear for most of his races (he was fitted with cheekpieces for his first Grand National and blinkers for his second) even had the Timeform ‘squiggle’, indicating he wasn’t a reliable betting proposition, at the time of his first Grand National win though it was promptly removed thereafter.
I Am Maximus, on the other hand, who also had headgear for his latest National win, though was wearing cheekpieces for just the second time, hasn’t hinted at temperament on the racecourse. But that doesn’t mean you should risk getting too close to him, it seems, as some of his well-wishers found out at his victory parade back home after his first win at Aintree. ‘He will eat you without salt’ warned Mullins after his latest victory. ‘He is a character – don’t stand in his way!’
‘Horses by Authorized have that little bit of a quirk in them’, his trainer confirmed. 'You could call it immaturity, whatever, but they’re very good – but they have that quirk. You just don’t want to annoy him – you want to get on his right side.'
More from Sporting Life
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.