Final declarations for the 2026 Grand National are in, and for once, it is not just the horses doing the talking.
With I Am Maximus, Nick Rockett, Grangeclare West and a clutch of Festival winners all making the cut, the race has the familiar feel of a re‑run – only this time the interest is firmly on the jockeys in the saddle rather than on the racecard.
Paul Townend is back on his old ally I Am Maximus, Patrick Mullins returns as last year’s winning rider, Harry Cobden turns up in JP McManus’s famous silks, and a handful of family operations get their shot at the world’s most watched jumps race.
Between Irish National heroes, Cheltenham scorers, and a £100 outsider with a serious fan club, there’s no shortage of subplots.
What follows is less about sectionals and more about stories. Who is on what, how they got there, and why the men in the weighing room might just decide how this Grand National is remembered.
Paul Townend – I Am Maximus
Paul Townend turns up at Aintree now as the man who finally cracked the Grand National, and did it in style on I Am Maximus in 2024.
He’d already won pretty much everything else for Willie Mullins, from Cheltenham Gold Cups with Galopin Des Champs to an Irish Grand National, also on I Am Maximus, so the National was the one big gap on the board.
With a second-place finish last year, he is climbing back on the same horse in 2026. Townend feels less like a man trying to tick off a box and more like the established governor of the race, aiming to add a second win to a record that has taken nearly two decades to build.
Full Line-Up Of Jockeys
| No. | Horse | Jockey |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | I Am Maximus | Paul Townend |
| 2 | Nick Rockett | Tom Bellamy |
| 3 | Banbridge | J J Slevin |
| 4 | Grangeclare West | Mr P W Mullins |
| 5 | Gerri Colombe | Jack Kennedy |
| 6 | Haiti Couleurs | Sean Bowen |
| 7 | Spillane’s Tower | Simon Torrens |
| 8 | Firefox | Keith Donoghue |
| 9 | Monty’s Star | Darragh O’Keeffe |
| 10 | Spanish Harlem | Brian Hayes |
| 11 | Lecky Watson | Sean O’Keeffe |
| 12 | Champ Kiely | Danny Mullins |
| 13 | Iroko | Jonjo O’Neill Jr |
| 14 | Favori De Champdou | Danny Gilligan |
| 15 | Three Card Brag | Jordan Gainford |
| 16 | Oscars Brother | Daniel King |
| 17 | Mr Vango | Jack Tudor |
| 18 | High Class Hero | James Bowen |
| 19 | Stellar Story | Robert Dunne |
| 20 | Beauport | Sam Twiston-Davies |
| 21 | Captain Cody | Jonathan Burke |
| 22 | Jagwar | Mark Walsh |
| 23 | Perceval Legallois | Harry Cobden |
| 24 | Gorgeous Tom | Sean Flanagan |
| 25 | The Real Whacker | Gavin Sheehan |
| 26 | Quai De Bourbon | Donagh Meyler |
| 27 | Answer To Kayf | John Shinnick |
| 28 | Jordans | Ben Jones |
| 29 | Final Orders | Conor Stone-Walsh |
| 30 | Marble Sands | Kielan Woods |
| 31 | Panic Attack | Harry Skelton |
| 32 | Top Of The Bill | Toby McCain-Mitchell |
| 33 | Johnnywho | Richie McLernon |
| 34 | Twig | Beau Morgan |
Patrick Mullins: Last Year’s Hero, New Project
Twelve months ago, it was Patrick Mullins who was doing the Aintree lap of honour, steering Nick Rockett to a famous 2025 National success and helping his father land an unprecedented one‑two‑three in the race.
For a so‑called amateur, Mullins has a professional’s CV, with a stack of Grade 1 winners and more than his fair share in prize money in recent seasons.
This year, he swaps last year’s hero for Grangeclare West, another Closutton runner who arrives with a staying profile and the full Mullins machine behind him.
The narrative is simple but appealing: can Patrick join that small club of back‑to‑back National‑winning riders and do it on a different horse while Townend is on the stable’s original Aintree star?
Maybe he should ask Leighton Aspell for some tips!
Tom Bellamy and Nick Rockett: Taking Over A National Winner
Tom Bellamy inherits one of the plum jobs in the weighing room by getting the leg‑up on Nick Rockett, the very horse that carried Patrick Mullins to glory last year.
Bellamy has built a solid reputation in big handicaps and graded races in Britain, but this is a different sort of pressure: you’re not just riding a National contender, you’re riding the defending champion.
From a jockey‑story angle, it’s fascinating – can Bellamy put his own stamp on a horse that already has his Aintree chapter written?
McLernon and Johnnywho: From Cheltenham Sole Ride to Aintree Headline
Richie McLernon’s partnership with Johnnywho is one of those stories that racing fans love.
His only ride at this year’s Cheltenham Festival turned into a cracker when Johnnywho stormed home in the Trustmarque Ultima Handicap Chase, a performance built on patience and well‑timed aggression.
Jonjo & AJ O’Neill are keeping things simple as they head into the National with the same rider, same connections, same idea of grinding late when others are screaming for the line.
McLernon has long been the sort of jockey trainers trust for staying handicaps; this is his chance to turn a shrewd Festival call into a career‑defining Aintree afternoon.
Back in 2012, he was on Sunnyhillboy, again for Jonjo O”Neill, when he was beaten by a nose, losing to Neptune Collonges, so McLernon is more than capable of getting around this course!
Harry Skelton and Panic Attack: The Family Project
Harry Skelton on Panic Attack is very much a family operation in public view: brother Dan training, Harry steering, and the mare having already put in what connections called a “beautiful National trial” at the Cheltenham Festival.
She jumped slickly when chasing home Dinoblue in the Mares’ Chase, underlining why the Skeltons think the Grand National trip and fences could be right up her street.
For Harry, a former champion jockey, this is a live chance to add “National‑winning rider” to a list that already includes multiple Cheltenham successes and big‑race wins on stable stars like Allmankind and Roksana.
Beau Morgan and Twig: The £100 Family Fairytale
If you like your Grand National stories with a bit of mud and emotion, Beau Morgan on Twig is hard to beat.
Twig cost just £100 and went on to win the Becher over the National fences in December with Morgan’s family all heavily involved, including his mother, Georgia, who owns the horse.
That Becher success was described by the family as a “dream come true”, and for Beau, still building his name, this is his second chance to ride Twig in the National, having gotten around in 10th place last year.
Donagh Meyler: Irish National Hero, Aintree Ambition
Donagh Meyler turns up at Aintree riding the wave of his biggest success so far, that runaway Irish Grand National victory on Soldier In Milan at Fairyhouse on Monday.
He sent the well‑backed favourite into a clear lead and never really looked in trouble, a ride praised as confident and clinical in equal measure.
Booked for Quai De Bourbon here, Meyler arrives as a jockey whose season has clicked into overdrive – that Irish National was his 47th winner of the campaign.
The question now is whether he can back up Fairyhouse domination with an Aintree masterclass on a very different type of staying test.
Harry Cobden and the McManus Hoops
Seeing Harry Cobden in JP McManus’s green and gold is going to become a common sight, and the Grand National is an early shop window for the new partnership.
Cobden has already ridden a first winner for McManus in Ireland, scoring on Fierce Handay in a handicap hurdle before quickly following up at Cork, and has spoken about feeling “privileged” to take on the retained‑rider role.
Perceval Legallois gives him a National vehicle that fits his style: a strong traveller who, on his day, can creep into contention from midfield.
For Cobden, who has done most of his big‑race damage so far for Paul Nicholls, this is a chance to announce himself as McManus’s new main man on the biggest British stage of all.
Daniel King and Oscars Brother: The Home‑grown Operation
Oscars Brother is very much a family horse, and Daniel King keeps the ride as brother Connor’s rapidly developing training career steps into the Grand National limelight.
The pair have already shown what they can do together, Daniel sending Oscars Brother straight to the front at Navan and never seeing a rival as he jumped boldly all the way round.
Brothers Daniel and Connor, their dad, and wider clan all pitch in at the yard, which is currently home to just two horses.
If Oscars Brother gets into that same rolling, front‑running groove at Aintree, Daniel has the chance to turn a good story into a very big one in one long, nerve‑testing spin.
Roll On Saturday
The Grand National always finds a way to throw us a curveball, but this year it feels especially shaped by the people doing the steering.
Townend, Mullins, Cobden, and the rest of the jockeys all arrive with their own backstories, form lines, and family threads, and it is those layers that give the race its pull as much as the fences themselves.
Whether you’re siding with the proven big‑race operators or chasing a fairytale with the family teams, the shape of your bet probably says as much about you as it does about the horses.
What’s certain is that, once the tapes go up, the spotlight will narrow to 34 riders making split‑second decisions that can turn a season, and sometimes a career, on its head.
By the time they pull up in front of the stands, it won’t just be a horse’s name going into the record books.
One of these jockeys will have a new story to tell, and the rest will head back to the weighing room already working out how to get back here next year.
BETFRED
