Grand National: Nick Rockett scores massive upset as Mullins sweeps top three
Even the third-string steeplechasers trained by Willie Mullins are stars.
On Saturday at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England, Nick Rockett ($71.40) won the Grade 1 Grand National Steeplechase, beating stablemate I Am Maximus, who won the 2024 running.
Mullins swept the top three positions in the 34-runner field when 44-1 Grangeclere West finished third. He is the first person to achieve the milestone in the famous race, first run in 1839.
Mullins had six starters. Meetingofthewaters finished fifth, while Minella Crooner ran seventh. Appreciate It was brought down on the second of two circuits when hampered by a rival.
Nick Rockett, an 8-year-old Irish-bred gelding, was ridden by Mullins’s son, Patrick in the $1.3 million Grand National at 4 1/4 miles and 30 fences.
Nick Rockett started well and raced just behind pacesetter Broadway Boy, a 66-1 outsider, for the first six furlongs before dropping farther back into the massive field.
Broadway Boy fell with more than a mile remaining, leaving Beauport in front with a large group of contenders in pursuit. There were 13 horses within eight lengths of the front with three fences remaining, including Nick Rockett.
With two fences remaining, Nick Rockett was near the front and jumped into the lead. I Am Maximus, who carried topweight of 166 pounds, dueled with Nick Rockett, who carried 162 pounds. There was little between the pair until the final quarter-mile when Nick Rockett pulled clear by 2 1/2 lengths.
Patrick Mullins said a patient approach was vital on Nick Rockett, who was eager early in the race.
“We got too good a start and we were too handy,” he said. “He was jumping brilliant, but I was taking him back.”
Patrick Mullins second-guessed his tactics midway through the second circuit before Nick Rockett responded quickly.
“Once I asked him to make up ground, he got there easily and I was going to get there too soon,” Mullins said.
Mullins said he held up Nick Rockett for the run-in, which included a slight dog-leg turn to the left.
For Willie Mullins, the win was the latest evidence of his domination of jump racing in Britain and Ireland.
“This is the summit for me,” he told the press immediately after the race. “I don’t think anything can be better than this.”
Nick Rockett, owned by Stewart Andrew, has won 7 of 13 starts in a career that began in December 2022.
The Grand National was Nick Rockett’s third consecutive win. Earlier this year in Ireland, Nick Rockett won the Thyestes Handicap at 3 1/8 miles at Gowran Park on Jan. 23, and the Bobbyjo Chase at 3 1/8 miles at Gowran Park on Feb. 22. The Bobbyjo Chase has been a productive race for Grand National prospects in recent years.
Mullins has been the dominant trainer at the four-day Cheltenham festival each March for the last decade. At this year’s event, he won 10 of 28 races.
The Grand National was the main race on the third and final day of the Aintree meeting. Because the Grand National is a handicap, the race is only rated as a Grade 3.
There were 10 Grade 1 races at Aintree from Thursday through Saturday. Mullins won five of them.
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