Pisces Grand National Horses

I Am Maximus is already an Aintree legend following his victory in the Grand National two years ago and then following that up with second place behind Nick Rockett last year. 

A return to Aintree will undoubtedly be on the cards once again but the ten-year-old son of Authorised has been quite busy this season with three runs in Grade One races in Ireland. The highlight of those runs was finishing runner-up to Affordale Fury in the Savills Chase at Leopardstown over Christmas. That run suggested that all his ability is still there and he looks sure to be a force to be reckoned with once again in the Grand National. 

I Am Maximus still holds an entry in the Cheltenham Gold Cup but that race has not been on his agenda in previous years and it would be a surprise if he was given the green light for that race. Much more likely is that he will turn-up at Aintree a fresh horse, although the Bobbyjo Chase at Fairyhouse that he won two years ago, may appeal to connections if they feel they want to get another run into him.

Iroko ran a fine race in last year’s Grand National when finishing seven-and-a-half lengths fourth to Nick Rockett when sent off the 13/2 favourite and in doing so was the only British horse to finish in the top nine places. 

Jonjo O’Neill jnr, who rode Iroko in the National, was hard at work from a long way out but his partner was willing, staying on for pressure after coming from quite a long way back. Iroko made a couple of bad mistakes before the turn for home which will not have helped his cause.

The eight-year-old gelding is a previous winner at the Cheltenham Festival, winning the Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle in 2023, but was sent straight over fences the following season and, perhaps surprisingly, has won only twice in ten attempts at the bigger obstacles. Iroko’s shrewd trainers, Oliver Greenall and Josh Gueriero, have been campaigning this horse with one eye on Aintree right from the start of his chasing career at the behest of owner JP McManus who has apparently always thought this horse was made for the Grand National.

Iroko has started this season with a run in the same Graduation Chase at Haydock that he ran in first-time up last season, finishing second on both occasions. He then ran in another Graduation Chase at Ascot where he regained the winning thread seeing off Firefox and James Du Berlais for a cosy victory.

It would appear all roads lead back to Aintree for Iroko but, in recent years, horses heading back to the Grand National after a defeat do not have a good record and this son of Cokoriko is likely to have significantly more weight to carry.

Iroko has had a wind operation since last season so connections will be hoping that will help the gelding find the improvement he seems to need to find to be competitive again in April.

Beauport led last year's Grand National in the second-half of the race and appeared to be really enjoying himself at the head of affairs before overtaken at the third-last fence. His effort capitulated very quickly after that, which was somewhat surprising for a horse who had won the Midlands National over a similar distance. 

Trainers Nigel and Willie Twiston-Davies have been swapping his races between hurdles and fences over the last few seasons and he started this season with a very encouraging run over the larger obstacles when a close-up fourth over three-miles and three furlongs at Cheltenham in November. Two less inspiring efforts have come over hurdles since then so it's difficult to know what kind of form the ten-year-old gelding is in. 

If Beauport does turn up at Aintree he will run from a three pound lower mark than last year but even with that reduction it's hard to fancy him given how quickly he checked out last year but he has since had wind operation so perhaps an improved performance could be on the cards.

Mr Vango was one of the horses of last season winning the London National at Sandown, the Peter Marsh at Haydock and ending the season with another victory, this time in the Midlands National. 

The gelding’s connections were frustrated he wasn’t on a high enough rating to make the final field at Aintree but have focused this season on getting the ten-year-old into this year’s Grand National.

This season started well for Mr Vango when he showed his aptitude for the National fences when finishing a short-head runner-up to Twig in the Becher Chase in December but Grand National plans have gone awry for the horse since then. The Sara Bradstock trained chaser turned in a rare blip in his form figures when pulling up in a race at Sandown but connections were further frustrated when Mr Vango pulled up again next time out, this time in the Eider Chase at Newcastle. 

After two such disappointing performances, Mr Vango’s participation in the Grand National must be in some doubt, but if his trainer can get him back to the form of last year he would be a live player at Aintree.

Jagwar had a superb first season over fences last year winning four races from five attempts, including the Novices Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. 

That victory at Cheltenham came from a mark of 139 and the seven-year-old gelding will carry thirteen pounds more should he line up in the Grand National. This season he has run twice so far in two valuable Cheltenham middle-distance handicaps and has only been narrowly beaten in both. 

Jagwar’s supporters for the Grand National are making a big leap of faith regarding his stamina for the four-and-a-quarter mile test at Aintree as the horse has yet to run further than two miles and five furlongs. Connections are aiming the JP McManus horse first at this year’s Cheltenham Festival with the three-mile Ultima Chase as the target before a possible tilt at the Grand National. With stamina still under question, Jagwar fans would probably best to wait until after Cheltenham before placing any Grand National bets.

French import Jordans has been something of a “talking horse” since transferring to Joseph O’Brien but the facts are that he has only won one race for O'Brien in ten attempts.

The seven-year-old gelding did run a fine race last season when runner-up to Caldwell Potter in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase at Aintree but his four runs this season have been disappointing. He started this season with a couple of races over hurdles but then pulled up when seemingly well-fancied when returned to fences for the Thyestes at Gowran Park in January. He was again well backed when running over 2m 5f at Leopardstown in March but could only manage a well beaten eleventh place finish.

It could be he is the type of horse who finds his best form when we approach the end of the season and the sun is shining and if he could recreate the form of his race with Caldwell Potter he would have a chance from only a one pound higher mark.

Firefox has been campaigned predominantly over distances short of three miles for the majority of his career with trainer Gordon Elliott only stepping him up in distance in his last two races. His first attempt at three miles was in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Leopardstown where he finished a very credible fourteen lengths fourth behind Fact To File, Gaelic Warrior and Galopin Des Champs. That effort encouraged Elliott to run the eight-year-old in the Cheltenham Gold Cup but this time he was more comprehensively defeated into twenty-six length sixth place where he appeared not to stay the 3m 2f distance. Obviously that is such a high-class race that he may simply have been outclassed but he didn’t scream out that he wanted to go four miles plus in the Grand National.

Supporters for the Grand National will point to the fact that his sire, Walk In The Park, has sired an Aintree Grand National winner amongst many other hardy stayers but it the fact that Elliott has also entered the gelding in the Topham Chase at Aintree over 2m 5f it could be he intends to drop the horse back down in trip.

Stellar Story announced himself as a stayer of note when springing a 33/1 surprise when taking the Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival a couple of seasons ago.

After that Cheltenham success big things were expected of this gelding over fences and he did win on fencing debut but has been rather disappointing since then. Stellar Story has run seven further races over fences but has yet to record another victory. He has been very highly tried in that time and the highlight was probably his runner-up spot in last season’s Brown Advisory Chase at Cheltenham where he finished four lengths runner-up to Lecky Watson.

This season the nine-year-old gelding has run three times and has been well beaten on all of those occasions. He did run an ok race last time out when unfavoured by the race conditions in the Bobbyjo at Fairyhouse. Given the peculiarities of the weight structure in that race, he had to give eight pounds to the likes of Grangeclare West, who is rated more than ten pounds higher than him. He would actually be twenty-one pounds better off with Granceclare West if they meet in the Grand National and would need to turn around a fourteen-and-a-half length defeat from Fairyhouse.

Stellar Story has yet to race in a handicap so it’s difficult to surmise how he will get on in that scenario but given his record suggests an extreme stamina test is likely to suit and that he has good form on all manor of ground conditions, he could be a very interesting candidate for top honours at Aintree.

Johnnywho heads to Aintree under the care of the revitalised father and son training partnership of Jonjo and AJ O’Neill and he goes there with an outstanding chance on the back of his career-best victory in the Ultima Handicap at the Cheltenham Festival.

This son of Califet has taken a while to fulfil his promise over fences, despite scoring on chasing debut at Carlisle, he made connections wait for nine races before getting his head in front again. In the interim, he had been run out of last year’s Kim Muir by just a neck and then failed by half-a-length in a 57k handicap at Ascot in December.

All was forgiven when he held off the strong late challenge of Jagwar to take the 84k first price in the Ultima, which is one of the strongest trials for the Grand National. Corach Rambler won that race before heading on to Aintree to capture the National and Johnnywho appears to have a great chance of completing the same double. 

The O’Neill team gave their charge a wind operation before Cheltenham as well as adding first-time cheekpieces and the combination worked the oracle as the nine-year-old gelding could be spotted travelling easily with two to jump. A fall at the last by Search For Glory aided Johnnywho’s cause but he was extremely tenacious in seeing off long-time leader Quebecois and the aforementioned Jagwar.

As the weights for the Grand National were framed before the Cheltenham Festival, Johnnywho’s Aintree rating has been set at 146 whereas the handicapper has now raised his new overall mark to 152 meaning he gets to race in the National six pounds “well-in”. He does have stamina to prove for the Grand National trip, especially as he didn’t appear to see out the 3m 5f trip in the Irish National last year, but that was on ground that was probably softer than ideal. The wind operation and headgear will obviously have to work for a second time but with his advantage in the handicap he does appear to have an exceptionally good chance of winning the Grand National for a second time for Jonjo O’Neill.

Final Orders has been a wonderful servant to his connections winning on the flat, over hurdles, over conventional fences and now becoming a top cross-country horse. 

The crowning glory in his career came on his latest run when jumping superbly to win the Glenfarclas Cross Country at the Cheltenham Festival and taking his career winnings to well over 200k. Next up will be the Aintree Grand National and given that the Cheltenham Cross Country has previously provided some many horses to go on and run well at Aintree, Final Orders is likely to be well supported. His supporters will be aware that the ten-year-old gelding needs genuinely good ground to be at his best so his chances seem to depend on a dry run-up to the race. The other potential issue is that he is quite a small horse and whilst the Grand National fences are not the test they used to be, they can still provide a stern test. This is underlined in that Final Orders has run twenty-eight times over fences and has only fallen once and that was in the Topham Chase over the Grand National fences. The ground was soft that day so that may have been a contributory factor but it is a concern to be aware of if you are considering backing this horse for the Grand National.

French Dynamite is one of the more experienced horses in this year’s Grand National having already had thirty-seven races under Rules. 

The eleven-year-old gelding began his career trained by Mouse Morris and under Rocour ownership but was sold in September last year and moved to the stable of the very shrewd operator, Eric McNamara. His new trainer has only run the gelding three times so far but appears to have rekindled French Dynamite’s enthusiasm as seen when winning the 50k Munster National in October. 

French Dynamite did win seven times for his old connections but nothing as valuable as his big handicap win for McNamara and had appeared to have become rather jaded with racing ending up in Cross Country races. During that final period with Morris, the gelding ran over the Grand National fences in the Topham Chase but was never really competitive and finished tailed-off.

Having already won a big race this season he could appeal as a lively outsider but stamina for the Grand National has to be taken on trust as despite all his experience he has never tried extreme distances outside of cross country races.

Lightly raced this season so will be a fresh horse compared to many in the lineup which is a positive but also arrives with career best efforts this season in two of his races. He won a valuable Handicap Chase at Haydock over 3m1f on seasonal return in November and then put a below par effort (where he couldn't dominate) behind him with a staying on 2nd in the Grand National trial over 3m4f back at Haydock in February.

He does appear to produce his best when being able to dictate the pace from the front so that scenario wouldn't be guaranteed in a field of 34 runners in the Grand National. Lots of positives though, five wins from twelve starts over fences and he does appear to be one of the more obvious contenders to appreciate this sort of stamina test having won at 3 miles or over on four occasions and the West Wales National at Ffos Las. He is also ground versatile having won on good, good to soft, soft and heavy conditions.

A fascinating outsider in this year’s renewal is Amirite, the 10-year-old gelding trained by Henry de Bromhead, a handler who knows exactly what it takes to ready one for the unique demands of Aintree. 

Amirite comes into the race with a mixed but intriguing profile. He has 2 wins from 17 chase starts, the latest victory coming in the 50k Mullingar Midlands National at Kilbeggan in July 2025 (he was runner up in this in 2024). A very good 4th of 22 followed in the valuable Galway Plate Handicap Chase.

Not every runner takes to Aintree, but Amirite already has strong course form having finished 4th of 30 in the Topham Chase over the National fences last year which is a major tick for his prospects.

With winning form around 3 miles+ he shapes like a horse who could improve again for the 4m2½f marathon trip and a very interesting each way proposition if the race turns into a test of stamina and jumping.