The 2026 Grand National is now part of the record books, and it delivered one of the race’s standout performances. From the chaos of Aintree emerged I Am Maximus — trained by Willie Mullins and ridden by Paul Townend — who produced a career-best display to become the first horse to regain the trophy since Red Rum.
Mullins further burnished his reputation by getting I Am Maximus back to peak form for a third attempt at the race. If you’d watched the horse’s mistake-riddled novice chasing in 2022/23, you might not have predicted this transformation. Yet Mullins has overseen three campaigns that timed this horse’s progression to perfection, returning year after year with energy and purpose.
When the runners went to post it very quickly became a two-way partnership: I Am Maximus and Paul Townend. The horse jumps in his own idiosyncratic style, and Townend knows how to make that silhouette work. His calmness — sitting tight as the race heated up — was a masterclass in race-riding, and he coaxed a powerful finish out of a top-weighted, 168-rated horse.
Comparisons with past legends are inevitable, and traditionalists will rightly debate eras. Tiger Roll and I Am Maximus have achieved feats that demand respect in today’s context. The nature of the test has changed: earlier Grand Nationals were a sterner examination of jumping, but the modern race’s reduced emphasis on brutal fence tests has also made it more competitive and higher in overall quality.
That shift changes what the race looks for. The Grand National is less about finding the single best jumper and more about finding the best-handicapped, most effective performer on the day. In modern renewals there are few hopeless outsiders: that’s why horses like Tiger Roll and I Am Maximus standing out across multiple renewals is so impressive.
After two renewals in 2024 and 2025 that featured very few fallers or unseats, 2026 reminded everyone that drama remains intrinsic to the race. Seven fallers and seven unseats produced a spectacle full of sudden swings and dashed hopes, with several fancied runners departing prematurely.
Course changes such as fence redesigns and reduced fields, and measures to corral loose horses into holding pens, have altered the picture. Even so, a number of loose horses avoided capture and injected uncertainty throughout the contest. For spectators who have only known the modern Aintree, the race still delivered the pulse-quickening excitement it promises.
The old Grand National — as it was in distant memory — no longer exists, and arguably hasn’t for decades. Arguing about what once was has its place, but it shouldn’t blind us to what the race is now: the biggest, most talked-about National Hunt spectacle of the season, still high-risk and still thrilling.
People may choose to live in the past, and they are entitled to those sentiments. For everyone else, the modern Grand National continues to provide one of sport’s most exciting 10 minutes, and I Am Maximus’s 2026 victory will stand as a memorable chapter in its evolving story.