If you like an underdog story with a twist, Panic Attack is probably already on your shortlist for the Grand National.
She’s the only mare in this year’s field and she’s coming into the race with a growing fan club and a shrinking price.
Mares don’t turn up in the National in big numbers, but when they do, they tend to make their presence felt. Thirteen mares have actually won the race, although you have to go back to Nickel Coin in 1951 for the last one to pull it off.
Since then, a few have hit the frame with names like Auntie Dot and Ebony Jane popping up in the history books, which at least tells you that the Aintree fences don’t hold any fear.
So while a mare winning the National is rare, it isn’t some kind of sporting miracle. It’s more a case of “does the right one turn up in the right year?”
Plenty of people seem to think Panic Attack might be the right one…
Panic Attack: The Mare On A Roll
You don’t need to be a racing nerd to appreciate what Panic Attack has done this season.
She’s already won two of the biggest handicap chases in Britain – the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham and the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury – which is a serious double for any horse, let alone a mare.
She then went back to Newbury and added a mares’ chase for good measure before finishing third in the Mares’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.
In simple terms, she’s been turning up in tough races, carrying proper weights, and just getting the job done.
Her official rating now sits in the high 140s, but she’ll carry the same weight as she did for that big Newbury win (10-05).
One big tick for a National horse is stamina, and Panic Attack looks like she wants every yard of a proper staying trip these days.
Dan Skelton has been very clear that this kind of marathon distance is exactly what she needs now, which is reassuring when you’re about to back her in the longest race of the year.
She has never fallen, unseated, or pulled up in her career, which is another quiet positive when you’re facing 30 fences.
The market move tells its own story. Earlier in the year, firms like Betfred had her around 20/1 in the ante-post lists, but she’s now as short as 8/1 and just behind I Am Maximus at the head of the betting with some firms.
Bookmakers at Aintree have already flagged her as the one they fear, with experienced layers predicting she could go off much shorter if the public latch on.
Betfred have also described her as their most popular bet today, which is never a sentence that makes a bookmaker relax!
Dan Skelton: A Trainer On The Up
Part of the appeal with Panic Attack is the man training her. Dan Skelton has been edging closer and closer to the trainers’ championship in recent seasons and is now firmly established in the top tier of British jumps trainers.
His yard is big enough to be competitive at every major meeting, but still small enough that each individual runner is placed with care, and he’s openly said he only runs horses in the National when he thinks they have a proper chance.
In his own Grand National day blog, Skelton doesn’t hide how much he likes Panic Attack’s profile. He describes her as having “a big chance”, says she “looks fantastic”, and points out that everything in her preparation has gone exactly to plan.
He’s also very relaxed about the trip, stressing that she stays very well and “wants this type of distance nowadays”, which again is exactly what you want to hear for a race like this.
You get the sense that Panic Attack is the sort of horse any trainer would love to go to war with: tough, genuine, and thriving on racing. When a trainer of Skelton’s calibre is this bullish about a National runner, it tends to make us sit up.
Harry Skelton: The Man in the Saddle
On board will be Harry Skelton, Dan’s brother and a former champion jockey in Britain.
He’s no stranger to the Aintree spotlight and has already ridden a winner at this year’s Grand National meeting. He knows the track, he knows the fences, and more importantly, he knows Panic Attack inside out from all her big days this season.
National fences demand a certain type of ride: calm early, brave when it matters, and clever enough to avoid other people’s problems.
Harry has been around long enough to have made most of the mistakes already, and he rides in a very balanced, economical style that should suit a stayer like Panic Attack.
So Why Could Panic Attack Win It?
Put simply, she has ticked most of the boxes you’d want for a realistic Grand National winner.
She’s in the form of her life, she stays strongly, she jumps well, and she’s trained and ridden by a team at the very top of their game.
Add in the fact that she’s the only mare in the race, and you’ve got a story that’s easy for the wider public to get behind.
Yes, history says that mares winning the National are rare, but history also says that outsiders and unfashionable profiles win this race all the time.
Mon Mome sprang a 100/1 shock in 2009, and way back in the day, horses like Foinavon and Tipperary Tim ripped up the script at triple-figure prices.
Noble Yeats was a novice when he won in 2022, and last year’s winner, Nick Rockett, went off at 33/1.
Against that backdrop, a well-fancied, rock-solid mare winning in 2026 would hardly be the strangest chapter Aintree has ever produced.
If you’re looking for a runner who has already done it in big fields, has the engine for the trip, and comes with a clear vote of confidence from her trainer and the betting public, Panic Attack makes a lot of sense.
She might not be the fairytale long shot, but she’s got a very real chance of doing something we haven’t seen since 1951 – and that alone makes her one of the most interesting horses lining up on Saturday.
BETFRED
