Hot on the heels of the Cheltenham Festival, the springtime racing show moves on to Merseyside. Kicking off on Thursday, 3rd April, the three-day Randox Grand National Festival features many of the same runners as the Prestbury Park showstopper.
Top-class Grade 1 action lights up all three days of the meeting, but it is a mere handicap which looms large as the towering headline act. Of course, the Grand National is no ordinary handicap, far from it. The fences are much bigger, and so is the hype, in a race which captures the public imagination more than any other.
Following the final declarations, we now know the identities of the 34 runners and riders who will set out over the marathon 4m2½f trip. There are 30 formidable obstacles, including the iconic Becher’s Brook, Valentines, and Canal Turn, lie between the challengers and the £1 million prize money.
As in 2024, there is a strong Irish flavour to the final field. Will the raiders from the Emerald Isle continue their dominance of British racing? Or can one of the home team grab a place in the history books?
Grand National: Confirmed Field of Runners and Riders
| Number | Horse | Jockey | Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | I Am Maximus | Paul Townend | Willie Mullins |
| 2 | Royal Pagaille | Charlie Deutsch | Venetia Williams |
| 3 | Nick Rockett | Mr P W Mullins | Willie Mullins |
| 4 | Grangeclare West | Brian Hayes | Willie Mullins |
| 5 | Hewick | Gavin Sheehan | John Joseph Hanlon |
| 6 | Minella Indo | Rachael Blackmore | Henry De Bromhead |
| 7 | Appreciate It | Sean O’Keeffe | Willie Mullins |
| 8 | Minella Cocooner | Jonathan Burke | Willie Mullins |
| 9 | Conflated | Jordan Gainford | Gordon Elliott |
| 10 | Stumptown | Keith Donoghue | Gavin Cromwell |
| 11 | Hitman | Freddie Gingell | Paul Nicholls |
| 12 | Beauport | Sam Twiston-Davies | Nigel Twiston-Davies |
| 13 | Bravemansgame | James Reveley | Paul Nicholls |
| 14 | Chantry House | James Bowen | Nicky Henderson |
| 15 | Threeunderthrufive | Harry Skelton | Paul Nicholls |
| 16 | Perceval Legallois | Mark Walsh | Gavin Cromwell |
| 17 | Kandoo Kid | Harry Cobden | Paul Nicholls |
| 18 | Iroko | Jonjo O’Neill Jr | Oliver Greenall & Josh Guerriero |
| 19 | Intense Raffles | J J Slevin | Thomas Gibney |
| 20 | Senior Chief | Darragh O’Keeffe | Henry De Bromhead |
| 21 | Idas Boy | Harry Bannister | Richard Phillips |
| 22 | Fil Dor | Sam Ewing | Gordon Elliott |
| 23 | Broadway Boy | Tom Bellamy | Nigel Twiston-Davies |
| 24 | Coko Beach | Jody McGarvey | Gordon Elliott |
| 25 | Stay Away Fay | Paul O’Brien | Paul Nicholls |
| 26 | Meetingofthewaters | Danny Mullins | Willie Mullins |
| 27 | Monbeg Genius | Nick Scholfield | Jonjo & A J O’Neill |
| 28 | Vanillier | Sean Flanagan | Gavin Cromwell |
| 29 | Horantzau d’Airy | Ciaran Gethings | Michael Keady |
| 30 | Hyland | Nico de Boinville | Nicky Henderson |
| 31 | Celebre d’Allen | Micheal Nolan | Philip Hobbs & Johnson White |
| 32 | Three Card Brag | Sean Bowen | Gordon Elliott |
| 33 | Twig | Beau Morgan | Ben Pauling |
| 34 | Duffle Coat | Danny Gilligan | Gordon Elliott |
Highlights
Unsurprisingly, the Irish training titans Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott are strongest numerically in 2025, with the powerful duo boasting six and five runners, respectively.
Defending champion I Am Maximus leads the Mullins charge. 8lbs higher in the handicap than for that success, he must shoulder top weight of 11st12lb. That won’t make life easy for the JP McManus-owned runner, but it’s hard to forget the manner in which he powered to the line 12 months ago. The pick of the other Mullins entries look to be Grangeclare West, who boasts solid form in Grade 1 company, Meetingofthewaters, who finished a respectable seventh in the 2024 edition, and Minella Cocooner, who appears to boast stamina as his strong suit.
The Elliott team doesn’t look as strong on paper. However, with three previous Grand National wins, the master of Cullentra House knows what it takes to prevail in this unique test. Of the Elliott quintet, dual Grade 1 winner Conflated looks interesting on his best form, but the most appealing claims lie with Three Card Brag. Making only his second start in handicap chase company, this son of Jet Away is less exposed than most and looks like the sort who may relish this stamina-sapping assignment.
The Irish challenge doesn’t end with Mullins and Elliott. Having bagged the Cheltenham Gold Cup with Inothewayurthinkin, Gavin Cromwell launches a potent three-pronged assault on Aintree. Stumptown bids to do a Tiger Roll and back up a win in the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase with a famous success in this event. He’s the choice of the market, but don’t discount the claims of the in-form Perceval Legallois, and Vanillier, who finished second in the 2023 edition of this.
If not Mullins, Elliott, or Cromwell, perhaps Shark Hanlon or Thomas Gibney will get the job done for the Irish. Hanlon’s Hewick already has a King George and US Grand National on his CV and will relish the drying ground, whilst Gibney’s Intense Raffles arrives as the reigning Irish Grand National champ.
Having claimed five of the past six editions, the Irish have an excellent chance of improving that record further. However, the home team won’t go down without a fight.
One of five runners in the lineup to sport the famous green and gold silks of JP McManus, Iroko has long been mentioned as an ideal Grand National sort. The 2023 Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle winner has won only one of seven starts over fences but has posted several excellent performances in defeat. His runners-up effort to Inothewayurthinkin in the Aintree Bowl reads particularly well now, and he remains unexposed in the handicap sphere.
Iroko is the shortest price of the British challengers, but you can make a case for several others. Paul Nicholls has solid claims with Kandoo Kid, who showed a liking for these fences when finishing third in the 2024 Topham Chase. Unlike Nicholls, Nicky Henderson has yet to land this prize but may put that right with his bold-jumping front-runner Hyland. And don’t discount Beauport, who represents dual Grand National winning trainer Nigel Twiston Davies, hacked up by 31 lengths on his most recent chase outing, and already has a Midlands Grand National success to his name. We know the field, we know the time and place, so now we just have to wait!
