Grand National 2026 result
I Am Maximus won the 2026 Grand National, ridden by Paul Townend and trained by Willie Mullins, sent off the 9/2 favourite at Aintree on Saturday 11 April 2026. He had already won the race in 2024 and finished second in 2025, so the win made him the first horse since Red Rum to regain the Grand National title — Red Rum's own back-to-back-then-third came in 1973, 1974 and 1977.
The result also extended one of the most remarkable runs in the race's history. Willie Mullins had saddled I Am Maximus in 2024 and Nick Rockett in 2025, so 2026 gave him a third consecutive Grand National, the first trainer to do that since Vincent O'Brien in the 1950s.
| 2026 Grand National | Result |
|---|---|
| Winner | I Am Maximus |
| Jockey | Paul Townend |
| Trainer | Willie Mullins |
| Starting price | 9/2 favourite |
| Date | Saturday 11 April 2026 |
The next running is the 2027 Grand National, due at Aintree on Saturday 10 April 2027.
The Grand National roll of honour
The table below lists every Grand National winner from 2000 to 2026, with the jockey, the trainer and the starting price. The race was not run in 2020, when the meeting was cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic; that year is carried as an explicit row rather than skipped, so the sequence reads correctly.
Two things stand out over this quarter-century. The first is how often the race is won by a horse nobody fancied: Mon Mome at 100/1 in 2009, Auroras Encore at 66/1 in 2013, Noble Yeats at 50/1 in 2022, and a string of 33/1 winners in between. The second is how rarely the favourite obliges — which makes I Am Maximus's 2026 win, and Tiger Roll's in 2019, the exceptions rather than the pattern.
Red Rum, the greatest of them all
No horse is more closely associated with the Grand National than Red Rum. Trained by Ginger McCain, he won the race three times, 1973, 1974 and 1977, and was runner-up in the two years in between. His 1973 victory, reeling in Crisp from a seemingly impossible distance, is one of the most famous finishes in racing history. Red Rum remains the only three-time winner of the race, though I Am Maximus has followed a Red Rum-like path of his own: having won in 2024, he regained the title in 2026, the first horse to do so since Red Rum himself.
Ginger McCain's own record stretched well beyond Red Rum. He won the National a fourth time in 2004 with Amberleigh House, 27 years after his third.
A race that rewards the brave
The National's marathon trip and huge field mean it has always thrown up stories. Long-priced winners are a recurring feature, and the race has produced landmark moments, none greater than Rachael Blackmore becoming the first female jockey to win it, aboard Minella Times in 2021. Venetia Williams (2009) and Sue Smith (2013) followed Jenny Pitman as female trainers to take the race, and Sam Waley-Cohen won it as an amateur on Noble Yeats in 2022, in the last ride of his career.
The other modern theme is the strength of the Irish yards. Willie Mullins has now won the National four times, with Hedgehunter in 2005 and then three in a row — I Am Maximus in 2024, Nick Rockett in 2025 and I Am Maximus again in 2026. No trainer had won three consecutive Grand Nationals since Vincent O'Brien in the 1950s. Of the six runnings from 2021 to 2026, five went to Irish-trained horses; the exception was Lucinda Russell's Corach Rambler in 2023, the Scottish yard's second National after One For Arthur in 2017.
More Grand National coverage
For the next renewal, including the date, the expected off time and how to watch, see our main Grand National hub. There is also a betting guide, a how to watch page, and full guides to Red Rum and the Grand National fences.