Despite recent form, I Am Maximus favored to win second straight Grand National
A poor recent race record aside, I Am Maximus will be favored to win Saturday’s famous Grand National steeplechase at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England, for the second consecutive year.
In 2024, I Am Maximus was a co-favorite at 7-1, winning the grueling race at about 4 1/4 miles over 30 fences by 7 1/2 lengths.
In preparation for this year’s race, I Am Maximus was always going to have a light campaign directed by his famous trainer, Willie Mullins, the leading jumps trainer in Ireland.
The results have been disappointing. In two starts at Leopardstown Racecourse, I Am Maximus was pulled up in the Grade 1 Savills Chase on Dec. 28 and finished eighth of 10 in the Grade 1 Irish Gold Cup on Feb. 1.
Those were top-level weight-for-age races at 3 1/16 miles won by Galopin des Champs, who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2023 and 2024 and was third in the race last month.
The $1.3 million Grand National is a handicap that does not draw runners who typically compete in Britain and Ireland’s leading weight-for-age chases.
I Am Maximus, a 9-year-old French-bred gelding, carried 160 pounds in the 2024 Grand National. He has been assigned top weight of 166 pounds for Saturday’s race in an attempt to join Tiger Roll from 2018-19 as the latest repeat winner.
The Grand National drew 34 runners, of which six are trained by Mullins. At the four-day Cheltenham Festival in Britain last month, Mullins won 10 of 28 races. On Thursday’s first day of the three-day Grand National meeting, Mullins swept the four Grade 1 races.
I Am Maximus was 13-2 in early betting Thursday, a clear choice in a big field over Stumptown (9-1), Iroko (10-1), and Hewick and Vanillier (11-1). Hewick was honored with the Eclipse Award as the 2022 outstanding steeplechaser in the United States, the year he was shipped from Ireland and won the American Grand National at Far Hills in New Jersey.
Hewick ended a seven-race losing streak with a five-length win in a hurdle race at 2 3/4 miles at Thurles Racecourse in Ireland on March 15. Since the win in New Jersey, Hewick has had mixed form in top-class races. He was seventh in the Irish Gold Cup in February.
Aside from I Am Maximus, Vanillier is the only runner among the five leading contenders with experience over the grueling fences of the unique Grand National course. Last April, Vanillier was 14th behind I Am Maximus in the Grand National.
Vanillier was third behind Stumptown in the Glenfarcas Cross County Chase at 3 11/16 miles on March 12 at Cheltenham, a marathon run over fences, hurdles, banks, hedges, and timber through the track’s infield.
Stumptown and Vanillier are trained in Ireland by Gavin Cromwell, who has a mixed stable of flat and jump runners. Last fall, the Cromwell-trained Fiery Lucy finished fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar.
Irish-trained runners have won six of the last 10 runnings of the Grand National and can continue that success with runners such as I Am Maximus, Stumptown, or Vanillier.
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