The historic moments behind I Am Maximus' second Grand National triumph

The 2026 Grand National will be remembered as one of the race's landmark renewals, a day when history was written several times over across a single afternoon at Aintree.

Whether you are looking for best odds guaranteed on today's runners or simply want to bet on horse racing at the very top level, the Grand National remains the sport's most compelling event, and this year’s edition delivered in every sense.

I Am Maximus, Willie Mullins, and JP McManus each wrote their names deeper into the record books, and the stories behind each of them are worth telling.

I Am Maximus

There is nothing bigger in the Grand National than the horses themselves, and like Red Rum before him, I Am Maximus is now a household name that transcends the sport. His second victory, following his 2024 success and a narrow runner-up finish in 2025, is significant on two counts.

He became the first horse since Red Rum to win the race carrying top weight, doing so under 11st 12lb off a BHA mark of 168, and he also echoed the great horse's achievement of regaining the title after losing it.

Paul Townend, who had also won the Cheltenham Gold Cup on Gaelic Warrior in March, produced a masterclass of a ride: patient throughout, saving ground up the inner, and producing his mount with a relentless late surge from the elbow to win going away.

Willie Mullins

When Willie Mullins won the Grand National for the first time in 2005 with Hedgehunter, almost nobody would have predicted he would one day become one of the most decorated trainers in the race's history.

He waited nearly two decades for his second victory when I Am Maximus prevailed in 2024, but since then, the winners have come thick and fast. Nick Rockett's success in 2025 meant Mullins had won consecutive, and I Am Maximus' return to the top made it three in a row, a feat that had not been achieved since Vincent O'Brien won three successive editions in the 1950s.

Mullins now stands alongside Ginger McCain and Fred Rimell as a four-time Grand National-winning trainer. "It's the first race we all watch on television," he said. "It's the race you grow up wanting to win, and just to have a runner in it is a tremendous sensation."

JP McManus

For a long time, JP McManus has been the most successful owner in National Hunt racing, and he now holds that distinction in the Grand National specifically. The Irish billionaire's first taste of success came with Don't Push It's memorable victory in 2010, the win that famously ended AP McCoy's long wait for National glory.

Minella Times in 2021 was another landmark moment, as Rachael Blackmore became the first female jockey to win the race. I Am Maximus' two victories now mean that all four of McManus' Grand National wins carry genuine historical weight, each one tied to a story bigger than the result itself.