Green Grand National Horses

I Am Maximus sprinted clear on the run-in in last year's Grand National, eventually coming home a comfortable seven-and-a-half-length winner and in doing so gave master trainer Willie Mullins his second Aintree Grand National victory. Connections have stated that defending his Grand National crown is the plan for 2025 but this time around I Am Maximus will have eight pounds more to hike around Aintree. A winner now of six races including an Irish Grand National and a Grade One novice chase, where I Am Maximus showed his versatility by being able to win such a high-class race over just two-and-a-half miles. 2025 did not start well for I Am Maximus though with a poor display in the Savills Chase at Leopardstown in December. The Grand National winner continually jumped out to his left and was tailed off from a relatively early stage, although that was a Grade One race run on good to yielding ground which would not have played to his strengths. The Grand National winner put up an improved performance next time with a staying on eighth place in the Irish Gold Cup but, again, that effort was littered with jumps where the gelding went violently out to his left. A third outing was planned for a race he won last year, the Bobbyjo Chase at Fairyhouse, but I Am Maximus was a late non-runner due to a bruised foot. He remains one of the favourites for the Grand National in 2025 but his propensity to jump out to his left this season and his foot injury must be a big worry for his supporters.

Intense Raffles won three of his nine races in France but seemed to take a huge step forward when transferred into the care of Tom Gibney in County Meath, Ireland. Gibney was in charge of the gelding's novice chase career and this son of Martaline took to that discipline like a duck to water winning his first two novice chases. The trainer then selected a very bold route of sending this inexperienced horse into white-hot company in the Irish Grand National. Despite this being Intense Raffles' first run in a handicap and the first time he had raced in a big field, he acquitted himself admirably becoming only the third six-year-old to win Ireland's top handicap chase. Owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede nominated the Aintree Grand National as the horse's target for 2025 and it is noticeable that the gelding had been kept to hurdles this season prior to the publication of the Grand National weights. The handicapper eventually settled on a mark of 151 for Intense Raffles but given his improving profile and lack of experience it's highly likely he can be competitive at Aintree of this revised mark. Traditionally, seven-year-olds have had a poor record in the Grand National but Noble Yeats broke the bad run of horses that age when winning in 2022 and with the changing nature of the race, being less experienced has become less of an issue.  Intense Raffles has already indicated that he is ahead of the handicapper by finishing second in the renowned Grand National trial, the Grade Three Bobbyjo Chase at Fairyhouse. The Irish handicapper has set his new mark at 156 so he will be five pind ahead of his handicap mark at Aintree. He must have an outstanding chance of achieving an Irish and English National double.

Gavin Cromwell’s rise up through the training ranks has been helped by the JP McManus owned Inothewayurthinkin who won at the Cheltenham Festival last year and then went on to record Grade One success at Aintree. Gromwell had campaigned this horse cannily in the early part of last season, running him at inadequate distances and then taking advantage of a lenient handicap mark to win the Kim Muir Handicap Chase at Cheltenham under a typically cool ride from Derek O’Connor. After winning that handicap, Cromwell pushed the gelding into Grade One company in the Mildmay Novices Chase where again he came home a comfortable four length winner.  This season he has had to move out of novice company and take on the likes of Fact To File and Galopin Des Champs and his performances have improved as the season has progressed. Inothewayurthinkin really caught the eye in the Irish Gold Cup when running on impressively to take fourth place, just over seven lengths behind the best chaser of the last few years in Gallopin Des Champs. Bookmakers had to take evasive action as punters availed themselves of the 33/1 that was available for Aintree success at that point and the gelding has been repeatedly cut in the market until ending up as ante-post favourite. The British handicapper has given Inothewayurthinkin a mark of 160 for the Grand National which is a full fifteen pound higher than his last win in a handicap, A factor of his wins last year was that he was still able to win despite some hair-raising jumping but even with the reduced test of the Grand National fences, he would probably need to improve his fencing to be a serious contender in April. Gavin Cromwell stated in a stable tour in early February that this horse's participation in the Grand National was by no means certain with the Aintree Bowl also under consideration.

Iroko is another of the JP McManus battalion that is well-fancied for the 2025 Grand National. A winner at the Cheltenham Festival two seasons ago over hurdles, Iroko has improved even further over fences despite only winning one of his races over the bigger obstacles so far. The Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero trained gelding ran his best race over fences when finishing second to Inothewayurthinkin in the Grade One Mildmay Novices’ Chase at Aintree. The seven-year-old will be eight pounds better off in the National with that rival for a four-length defeat so his chance looks an obvious one. Things haven’t really gone to plan for Iroko this season, which began with a half-length by Trelawne in a Graduation Chase at Haydock and then a first fence fall at Ascot in December. His third run this season came in a Premier Handicap at Cheltenham in January when finishing five lengths fourth to winner Moon D’Orange. That run was investigated by the stewards that day who wanted an explanation into the gelding’s running and riding. Jockey Jonjo O’Neill Jr explained to the stewards that he was under instructions to try and Iroko jumping soundly after his fall in his last race. The jockey lost his iron during the race and got into a difficult position as a result. The stewards accepted the explanation but the upshot of the race was that Iroko did not receive a hike in the handicap before the Grand National weights were announced. The Grand National is much less of a jumping test these days but the amount of errors in Iroko’s recent races must still be a considerable concern for his chances.

Gavin Cromwell will be hoping that the great record in the Grand National if horses who have run in Cross Country races will continue in 2025 as Stumptown and Vanillier are among the best around currently in that field. Stumptown doesn’t fit the profile of most cross-country horses as he is only eight-years-old and most runners in that field tend to be ten and over. He’s won three out of four of his attempts over the banks and also won two good traditional handicap chases at Cheltenham in 2024 so he certainly has a progressive profile. The worry for Stumptown’s supporters is that the British handicapper has pushed him up to a rating of 157 for the Grand National which is ten pounds higher than his last win in a traditional handicap.  Another possible concern could be that the last three times Stumptown has contested the very top level handicaps (Irish National, Coral Gold Cup and the Ultima Chase) he has pulled up every time. 

Earlier this season it looked as if Perceval Legallois was becoming disappointing after going off as favourite in two big Irish handicaps only to return home well beaten. Those defeats in the Galway Plate and the Listowel National meant he was allowed to go off at 17/2 for the big Irish Christmas handicap chase; the Paddy Power at Leopardstown. This time though the real Perceval Legallois turned up and he came home an easy seven-length winner of a handicap worth nearly €100,000.  Trainer Gavin Cromwell then spotted an opportunity for Perceval Legallois to exploit his handicap mark over hurdles which was now eighteen pounds lower than his chase mark after that big win at Leopardstown. Cromwell aimed his charge back at the Dublin track again but this time at a €59,000 listed handicap hurdle. The punting public probably saw this as a run-out to protect his chase handicap from the attentions of the British Grand National handicapper but Cromwell had the eight-year-old fully tuned and he handled the return to hurdles brilliantly coming home a comfortable winner again.  Cromwell seems to now have turned his attention to the Grand National for this horse where he would have to race from an eleven pounds higher mark than his last chase win at Christmas. This son of Ballingarry has never raced further than three miles so the step up to four miles plus would have to be taken on trust but horses who win at three miles over hurdles usually tend to stay further over fences.  Another issue to be considered by anyone thinking of backing this horse for AIntree is the wealth of riches JP McManus has in the staying chaser department. With so many stayers at his disposal, McManus looks sure to divert some of his battalion to the Irish National at Fairyhouse, which is two weeks after Aintree this year. If Perceval Legallois does head to Aintree the question mark would probably be if his win in the Paddy Power has scuppered his chance of winning a Grand National.