Few horses get one serious crack at Grand National history. I Am Maximus is trying to write a sequel.
On Saturday, he will line up at Aintree as a former winner, a subsequent runner‑up, and now top weight, with a CV that looks less like a race record and more like a staying‑chase greatest hits album.
What makes him so compelling in 2026 is not just what he has done, but where and how he has done it.
Irish Grand National winner, Aintree Grand National winner, Bobbyjo Chase demolition job, Grade 1 novice success – all for Willie Mullins in the JP McManus silks, and still turning up for more at ten years of age.
From Quirky Novice to Staying Star
I Am Maximus did not burst onto the scene as an obvious Aintree natural. Mullins has long described him as quirky, a horse who does things in his own time and doesn’t exactly empty the tank at home.
Early on, he mixed the promising with the puzzling, but even in defeat, there was a sense that there was a serious engine waiting to be pointed in the right direction.
The big turn came at Fairyhouse. In April 2023, he lunged late to win the BoyleSports Irish Grand National, coming from an unpromising position to nail Gevrey in the closing stages of a three‑mile‑five‑furlong slog in testing ground.
Ridden patiently by Paul Townend, he threaded his way through a field of 27 and proved, in one go, that stamina, grit, and a touch of drama were very much part of his make‑up.
He went back to Fairyhouse that winter and added the Grade 1 Drinmore Novice Chase, confirming that he had class as well as staying power.
By then, he had become a track specialist, but still a slightly under‑the‑radar horse, his quirks and occasional sketchy jump keeping him off the shortlists of the more cautious punter.
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The Aintree Breakthrough
That changed in the space of four and a bit miles at Aintree in April 2024. Sent off a well‑fancied 7‑1 chance, I Am Maximus was ridden with icy patience by Townend, creeping up the inside and slowly building momentum in a Grand National that never quite settled.
He did not jump every fence with the fluency of a textbook chaser with Mullins himself admitting that he “probably didn’t jump as clean as he could” – but he kept finding.
Turning for home with several still in front, he produced that now familiar late surge, sweeping past Delta Work and Minella Indo and storming clear for a seven‑and‑a‑half‑length success.
It was a first Grand National for Townend, a second for Mullins after Hedgehunter in 2005, and another for McManus to sit alongside Don’t Push It and Minella Times.
For I Am Maximus, it was the moment he stopped being ‘promising but tricky’ and became the horse who could win both Irish and English Nationals – a rare feat in any era.
Nearly Back‑to‑back
Winning one National is hard enough. Coming back with extra weight and all the expectation is a different test.
Mullins was the first to say it would be “tough” when handicaps were announced for the 2025 running, insisting that defying a mark in the high 160s would put I Am Maximus into company usually reserved for Red Rum and Tiger Roll.
He very nearly managed it. In last year’s Grand National, I Am Maximus carried the top weight of 11st 12lb, travelled like the best horse for much of the way, and only gave best late to stablemate Nick Rockett in a finish that underlined the depth of the Mullins staying squad.
He did everything but win, running a huge race under a burden that would sink most chasers.
That second place at Aintree, on the back of his 2024 win, is why the handicapper and the market have both given him top billing again in 2026.
He heads the weights for this year’s race and sits at the top of the betting, a hardened Aintree specialist with form figures at the meeting that read like the dream of any staying‑chase owner.
His Current Shape
Top‑weight Grand National bids live or die by the preparation. I Am Maximus has again been campaigned like the valuable, battle‑hardened horse he is, kept to high‑class staying chases rather than racking up a long series of miles for the sake of it.
His record in recent seasons shows he continues to operate around the mid‑to‑high 160s, running in Grade 1 and Grade 2 company, often giving weight to serious rivals.
A Leopardstown run, in the Irish Gold Cup, in early February saw him outpointed by Fact To File over three miles on soft ground, but that form sits comfortably among the best staying chase efforts of the season and served the dual purpose of keeping him sharp without bottoming him.
Why I Am Maximus Can Win The 2026 Grand National
On the positive side, the case for I Am Maximus is straightforward. He is a proven Grand National winner, already successful over the exact course and distance and in the modern safety‑conscious version of the race.
He is versatile on ground from soft to good‑to‑soft, with big wins on testing going at Fairyhouse and Aintree.
His stamina is beyond doubt, with victories at three‑mile‑plus, three‑mile‑five, and over four miles on his record.
He is battle‑hardened in huge fields, where his patient style and late finishing kick are ideal, and more than all of that, he is trained by a man who has just won back‑to‑back Nationals with different horses and is still hungry for more.
There are, however, two clear potential limitations. The first is the weight. Heading the handicap again means that if he does pull this off, he will be the first horse since Red Rum to have done so.
The second is his jumping rhythm. While he has largely put the worst of his sketchy moments behind him, races like the 2024 National showed that he can still be careful at the odd fence, losing a length here and there.
Over 30 obstacles that can add up, especially if the tempo increases earlier than ideal.
Yet even here, there is a counter‑argument. His 2025 second under top weight was described by some handicapping voices as one of the outstanding modern Grand National performances, right up there with Tiger Roll’s second win in terms of what the figures say.
A Fan Favourite
In a race that loves a fashionable story, I Am Maximus is the horse quietly trying to write a genuinely historic chapter.
He returns to Aintree as top weight, still in the care of the sport’s dominant trainer and still in the green‑and‑gold of a man who has built a racing life around days like this.
Maybe he will find one better on the day, perhaps a younger chaser on a handy mark who gets every break where he gets one bump too many.
But if you are drawing up a shortlist for the 2026 Grand National and you do not have I Am Maximus very near the top, you are ignoring a horse who has already passed almost every staying‑chase exam there is.
If he does land that historic double under top weight, the post‑race conversation will not be about how we overrated him. It will be about why we ever thought we could take him for granted in the first place.
BETFRED
