Ben Linfoot unpicks the result of the 2026 Randox Grand National in his big-race analysis - also check out the full finishing order to see what happened to your pick.
Randox Grand National 2026: Full Result
1st I AM MAXIMUS 9/2 fav
2nd Iroko 18/1
3rd Jordans 28/1
4th Johnnywho 12/1
5th High Class Hero 66/1
6th Favori De Champdou 40/1
7th Final Orders
8th Champ Kiely
9th Three Card Brag
10th Monty's Star
11th Answer To Kayf
12th Gorgeous Tom
13th Imperial Saint
14th Haiti Couleurs
15th Twig
16th Firefox
Also Ran:
Fell: Gerri Colombe, Mr Vango, Stellar Story, Quai De Bourbon, Marble Sands, Panic Attack, Top Of The Bill
Pulled Up: Spanish Harlem, Lecky Watson, The Real Whacker, Amirite
Unseated Rider: Grangeclare West, Banbridge, Oscars Brother, Beauport, Captain Cody, Jagwar, Perceval Legallois
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Grand National Analysis
Could we have another Red Rum on our hands? That’s a question that faced Tiger Roll a few years ago and now we ask the same of I AM MAXIMUS, who won his second Randox Grand National in remarkable style under Paul Townend on Saturday.
Willie Mullins, now the joint leading trainer in the history of the race with four winners, was winning his third successive renewal, his remarkable strength in depth in the staying chase division at record levels.
With eight in the contest he won’t have known where to look, but his eyes will have quickly moved from his son, Patrick, last year’s winning rider aboard Nick Rockett, after he dusted himself down from a first fence unseat aboard Grangeclare West, to I Am Maximus and Townend, the 9/2 favourite and Closutton number one.
It won’t have been easy viewing for the record-breaking trainer, as I Am Maximus’ jumping was average and he ploughed through much of the birch, but his stamina, class and fight is not in question and those qualities came to the fore deep in the contest once again.
Second last year, his race form figures of 1-2-1 are formidable and while he will be 11-years-old in 12 months’ time it’s little wonder Paddy Power made him 8/1 favourite for the 2027 renewal before 16th home Firefox, the final finisher, had crossed the winning line.
Red Rum remains the only triple winner of the Grand National in history, and while the world’s most famous steeplechase is a very different beast now to the one he dominated in the 1970s, it would still be an incredible feat if I Am Maximus were to equal his haul.
Tiger Roll was denied a crack at history in the end, due to a combination of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and then his owner’s gripe at his weight dished out by the handicapper after that, but it would take misfortune for I Am Maximus not to rock up in 2027 for his hat-trick bid in owner JP McManus’ green and gold.
A son of Authorized, just like Tiger Roll, he has a touch of his Derby-winning sire’s class and spirit alright and like Tiger Roll himself, he relishes the chaos of a Grand National like few other horses in history.
And there was more chaos then might be comfortable. An unseat at the first from Grangeclare West set the tone, with other fancied horses like Banbridge, Jagwar, Captain Cody and Oscar’s Brother also unseating their riders. Loose horses ran free, the excellent jumper Panic Attack fell, the popular Mr Vango took a crashing fall.
The good news is these forgiving fences meant there were no casualties. Quai De Bourbon trotted into the horse ambulance and fingers are firmly crossed for him. Robbie Dunne was the only injured jockey, taken to hospital for further assessment.
All this is evidence that the changes made to the race are working. The race had to change and it has. You dread to think what I Am Maximus’ jumping would’ve meant for him in Red Rum’s era, but that doesn’t matter. This is his era and it might get better for him yet.
McManus had the winner and the second, Iroko, who stayed on well for the runner-up spot this year just like he did last year when he was fourth. He came from the clouds for Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero, the Cheshire training duo enjoying a fine second despite the more favoured stablemate Jagwar unseating Mark Walsh.
Jordans was third, but he could’ve been first. Jockey Ben Jones made a startling move to circle the field and take up the running before the turn for home and he kicked on eight lengths clear at the last, only to get reeled in by the JP duo has he began to tread water with the winning post looming.
Jones will get pelters no doubt and yes, he probably did kick for home too early. A rush of blood to the head, perhaps, but this was only his second Grand National ride and it doesn’t diminish what has been an excellent season for him. He will get his chance again.
It was a shrewd bit of training from Joseph O’Brien, his yard in great form, to protect this horse’s mark with a traditional Grand National campaign, running him over hurdles twice before Christmas. Further evidence, if we needed any, that he’s a chip off the old block when it comes to targeting the biggest prizes in the sport.
Johnnywho ran well in fourth to give McManus a 1-2-4, the horse 6lb well in after his Cheltenham Festival success, while High Class Hero underlined that you should never dismiss a Mullins-trained outsider as he bounced back to form after two pulled up efforts with a gallant fifth at 66/1.
Favori De Champdou didn’t appear to stay in sixth, but he has spectacularly refound his form this spring and that was in evidence again here, his Cross Country conqueror Final Orders finishing a place behind him in seventh.
Others to mention include Three Card Brag who got around the National course for a second time, Twig, who did the same, and Monty’s Star who jumped really well in a prominent position for a long way only for his stamina to fail him in the closing stages.
That’s when I Am Maximus was just getting going. This was his National and he’s well on the way to becoming a history horse. This famous old race would welcome another of those with open arms.
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