Nick Rockett holds off I Am Maximus to win thrilling 2025 Grand National – live reaction

Maghull Novice Chase (5pm) betting Kalif Du Berlais 5/4 L’Eau Du Sud 2/1 Touch Me Not 4/1 Special Cadeau 14/1 Brookie 28/1 Full betting via Oddschecker And with that Tony Paley is back to take over. Bye! An email from Ladbrokes lands, and here are their early favourites for next year’s Grand National. It’s never too soon. I Am Maximus 16/1 Nick Rockett 16/1 Iroko 20/1 Jagwar 20/1 Myretown 20/1 Haiti Couleurs 25/1 Maghull Novice Chase (5pm) preview The last of the meeting’s Grade One events features the second, fourth and fifth horses home in a dramatic running of the Arkle Trophy at Cheltenham last month, when L’Eau Du Sud, through no real fault of his own, seemed to find himself in front for a little too long after Majborough, the hot favourite, made a hash of the last two fences. Dan Skelton’s runner certainly looked the likeliest winner two out and could well prove the point today, although Kalif Du Berlais is a fresher horse having been steered around Cheltenham and also back at his optimum trip after finding little at the business end in a Grade One over two-and-a-half last time. SELECTION: L’EAU DU SUD All the jockeys are fine, but a couple of the horses are struggling. Broadway Boy, who led the race for so long, and Celebre D’Allen are, we’re told, being “assessed by expert veterinary teams”. Watching the replays, and as late as fence 24 Nick Rockett is not in the top 10. He was ninth over 27 and maybe seventh going round the home turn, with two jumps to go, but out of the turn a gap opens up and Patrick Mullins goes for it. Nick Rockett is first over the 29th and penultimate fence and leads from there, though I Am Maximus pushes him hard until the last 80 yards. Our snap report on Nick Rockett’s Grand National victory is here: The trophy presentation is now taking place. The trainer’s and jockey’s trophies are delightfully minimal. They are roughly the shape, but not quite the size, of a half-decent Easter egg. The story behind Nick Rockett has made this a particularly emotional win: he was originally owned by Stewart Andrew’s wife, Sadie, who had wanted the horse to be trained by Willie Mullins. This was her dream, but Sadie died of cancer in December 2022, a few days after Nick Rockett ran his first race over jumps. “Out of such sadness, such joy has been born and Nick Rockett has done it all for me, “ Stewart said earlier this year. 1 Nick Rockett (Mr P W Mullins) 33-1 2 I Am Maximus (P Townend) 7-1 3 Grangeclare West (B Hayes) 33-1 4 Iroko (Jonjo O’Neill Jr.) 13-2 Fav 34 ran Stewart Andrew, the winner’s owner, carries Patrick Mullins on his back into the winners enclosure. Willie Mullins speaks to ITV. That was some result, the interview enthuses. “Some result, yeah,” he says. He is quite emotional, and not really in any state to be interviewed on national TV. Patrick Mullins has a chat: He was just perfect. I actually had too good a start and I was trying to take him back all the way. He just jumped fantastic. It’s a dream since I was a kid. When I was five or six years old I was reading books about the Grand National so to put my name there is incredibly special. He’s just a brilliant horse. He’s not very big, one of the smallest in the field, but he’s brave as a lion. Willie Mullins has trained the Grand National winner, and Nick Rockett did it with his son Patrick on board! Mullins has all the top three, and four of the top five! It’s a victory for the Mullins family, with I Am Maximus finishing a couple of lengths back in second, ahead of Grangeclare West! Nick Rockett ahead of I Am Maximus in the final 150 yards! Four in the lead now going into the last. I Am Maximus is one of them! Celebre D’Allen in the lead now with two to go! Broadway Boy crashes out having led the entire race! Beauport comes through to take the lead. Kandoo Kid goes down, and he brings Appreciate It down too! Neither were among the leaders. Bravemangame is up to third. Broadway Boy still leading over Open Ditch, but Three Card Brag is half a length behind. Beauport and Broadway Boy follow them. Coko Beach pulls up before the Chair. There are maybe 30 horses in the main group going into the second circuit. Broadway Boy still in front, followed by Beauport and Three Card Brag, going over No13. Perceval Legallois is the second horse to go, over Valentine’s Brook. Broadway Boy still in the lead as they go over Becher’s for the first time. Duffle Coat has unseated his rider and is the first horse out of the race. Over the first of 30 fences. Broadway Boy is leading the field and this extremely early stage. And they’re off! Iroko has overtaken I Am Maximus in the betting and looks set to start the race as favourite. The clock strikes four, and this race is about to happen. About to start. Bravemansgame, a 50-1 chance trained by Paul Nicholls, hasn’t made it out yet and doesn’t look at all keen. The jockeys are getting aboard their rides and running them in front of the Queen Mother Stand. Five minutes away now. Michael Keady, who has never trained a horse to victory over jumps, has Horantzau d’Airy wearing No29, the most outside of all the outsiders at 150-1: We’re dreaming. Fingers crossed he can just jump round safely and anything more than that’s a bonus. The jockeys make their way out, with the race just 10 minutes away now. Shark Hanlon, the trainer of the £800, Guinness-drinking horse-of-the-people Hewick and apparently in line to win a seven-figure sum if his horse comes in, has one of the finest nicknames in showbusiness. Here’s the origin story: The nickname came from a hurling game when I was 18 in Kilkenny. I was playing full forward - I wasn’t much good but I was big and awkward and kept a full-back busy. A couple of balls came in and I was lucky enough to catch them and throw them to the corner forwards to score goals and Pa Dillon shouted on the sidelines: “Would someone cut the head off that shark and we can all go home now?” I remember we won that final and came back to Paulstown, and they said the man of the match was the shark. From that day on, I’ve been known as the shark. Hello world! Well, this is exciting is it not. ITV are currently showing us the horses in the parade ring. To my absolutely untrained eye they all look like wonderful beasts, and we’re given reasons to be enthusiastic about all of them (well, almost all, some owners and trainers are clearly just happy to be here). Broadway Boy is apparently “popping”. And as they cross the Melling Road it’s over to Simon Burnton … Grand National Market Movers Perceval Legallois - 16/1 into 10/1 and Stumptown - 18/1 into 10/1 Details here via Oddspedia. Grand National (4pm) betting I Am Maximus 7/1 Iroko 9/1 Perceval Legallois 10/1 Stumptown 11/1 Intense Raffles 14/1 Three Card Brag 16/1 Hewick 16/1 Vanillier 18/1 Minella Cocooner 16/1 Kandoo Kid 16/1 Nick Rockett 22/1 Meetingofthewaters 22/1 Hyland 25/1 BAR 25/1 – 34 Runners Full betting via Oddschecker Grand National (4pm) preview There’s not a huge amount more to be said about the big one that hasn’t been said at length already, but if, like me, you’re going to be on one of JP McManus’s five runners, there could be no worse feeling than thinking you’ve backed the winner when in fact it was one of the other four. The cap colours are: I Am Maximus – white; Chantry House – red; Perceval Legallois – green with white star; Iroko: green and gold quartered; and Meetingofthewaters is blue. I’ve plumped for Iroko, with I Am Maximus, Senior Chief and Perceval Legallois filling the places, but it is pretty much as open as a National gets. SELECTION: IROKO Here’s the map of the course to follow during the big race. 1 Hiddenvalley Lake (D J O’Keeffe) 12-1 2 Strong Leader (S Bowen) 5-1 3 Jetara (N de Boinville) 15-2 11 ran Non Runners: 3,11 Liverpool Hurdle (3.05pm) And they’re off … Monmiral has the lead early … with Strong Leader up there with the pace too … Altobelli is the third as they go out for the final circuit … Sounds Russian is at the back … The Wallpark is towards the rear … Jetara has made good ground … Hiddenvalley Lake comes late with a strong run late on to grab the prize. A terrific set of shots here from Tom Jenkins in a gallery of the first two days of this year’s Grand National festival. Check the gallery later for pictures from today’s big race. Liverpool Hurdle (3.05pm) betting Kitzbuhel 11/4 Strong Leader 4/1 Home By The Lee 6/1 The Wallpark 15/2 Gwennie May Boy 17/2 Jetara 12/1 Hiddenvalley Lake 14/1 Altobelli 16/1 Monmiral 33/1 Buddy One 40/1 Sounds Russian 150/1 Full betting via Oddschecker Liverpool Hurdle (3.05pm) preview Four of the field also lined up for the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham last month – Teahupoo, Home By The Lee, The Wallpark and Buddy One – and though Willie Mullins’s Kitzbuhel will be a fresh horse here having been steered around Cheltenham after a win at Gowran in February, the festival form is probably the strongest on offer. Teahupoo is an obvious favourite today after finishing a close second behind Bob Olinger there, but Home By The Lee had no luck at all in running and had previously looked like an improved performer this season, so could be the value option to beat Gordon Elliott’s runner. SELECTION: HOME BY THE LEE 1 Cruz Control (Stan Sheppard) 10-1 2 Imperial Saint (M G Nolan) 11-4 Fav 3 Erne River (Adam Wedge) 25-1 12 ran Non Runners: 4,7,10,12 Freebooter Handicap Chase (2.30pm) betting And they’re off … Imperial Saint leads very early with Wevallbeencaught at the back … Docpickedme now picks it up … Le Milos also towards the rear … Imperial Saint now disputing the lead again with a circuit to go … and now has the lead again … Docpickedme makes a mistake … Richmond Lake travels well … Cruz Control now with Erne River … and Cruz Control kicks clear to repeat last year’s win. Freebooter Handicap Chase (2.30pm) betting Imperial Saint 10/3 Happygolucky 11/2 Docpickedme 13/2 Le Milos 8/1 Richmond Lake 10/1 Weveallbeencaught 10/1 Cruz Control 12/1 Charlie Uberalles 14/1 Erne River 16/1 Sam Brown 18/1 33/1 BAR – 12 Runners Full betting via Oddschecker Freebooter Handicap Chase (2.30pm) preview Another race with several non-runners, including a big contender in Dr Ken, and Imperial Saint, an Aintree winner over two-and-a-half miles in December, heads the market. He is back in handicap company after a slightly disappointing Grade Two outing at Kempton last time (given that he set off as the 9-4 second-favourite) but he was third in a competitive handicap at Cheltenham in January off today’s mark so is weighted to go close. Happygolucky is also back for another crack at a race that he won – off a 10lb higher mark – all of four years ago, and he showed when staying on well into fourth in the Ultima Handicap Chase at Cheltenham’s festival meeting that he is still able to mix it in strong handicap company. Docpickedme, who looked a fortunate winner at Doncaster last time, is also picking up some support, along with last year’s winner, Cruz Control. SELECTION: HAPPYGOLUCKY 1 Honesty Policy (M P Walsh) 5-1 2 Regent’s Stroll (H Cobden) 9-1 3 Funiculi Funicula (D E Mullins) 12-1 9 ran Also: 5-2 Fav Miami Magic, 17-2 Koktail Divin 4th Non Runners: 2,10,12 Turners Mersey Novice Hurdle (1.55pm) A false start … and this could get messy … and now they’re off … Regent’s Stroll has the lead … Miami Magic is up there early too … Good And Clever is at the back with a circuit to go … Koktail Divin is in second and ready to challenge … Kappa Jy Pyke is also there with every chance … Regent’s Stroll goes for home … and here comes Honesty Policy to get there in the final strides. News flash: Important non-runner in 3.05pm race – the favourite will not line up! The starts at Aintree this week have been messy again, as at the Cheltenham festival, with four false starts already and the first one today was not ideal. ITV pundit Ruby Walsh said: “I don’t want to be knocking the starter because I wouldn’t want to be doing his job for ten times his salary but I think he’s got it wrong here. As they break from a jig-jog into a canter, there can’t be a start. They don’t get back to a jig-jog but he starts the race and a couple get left behind.” Turners Mersey Novice Hurdle (1.55pm) betting Horacles Pearl 3/1 Miami Magic 9/2 Honesty Policy 11/2 Regents Stroll 11/2 Koktail Divin 15/2 Kappa Jy Pyke 8/1 Good And Clever 18/1 Castle Carrock 25/1 Funiculi Funicula 40/1 Full betting via Oddschecker Turners Mersey Novice Hurdle (1.55pm) preview Lulamba, the likely favourite, has been scratched here due to the going, which removes quite a lot of the interest, but it’s still a Grade One and Fergal O’Brien’s unbeaten Horaces Pearl has taken over as the market leader. This will be his first outing in Graded company over hurdles but he won the Grade Two bumper here at last year’s National meeting, beating a stable companion who took a Grade Two novice hurdle at Kempton in February. Regent’s Stroll, from the Paul Nicholls stable, is also in the mix, although he came up a little short on his last try in Grade One company in the Challow Hurdle over Christmas, while Kappa Jy Pyke, sixth when a big outsider for the Turners Novice Hurdle at Cheltenham last month, is an interesting runner for Willie Mullins as he looks to maintain his challenge to retain the National Hunt trainers’ title. SELECTION: HORACES PEARL 1 Deep Cave (Jack Tudor) 28-1 2 Timmy Tuesday (D J Gilligan) 11-2 3 Double Powerful (C O’Farrell) 7-1 4 Park Of Kings (M P Walsh) 12-1 17 ran Also: 4-1 Fav Act Of Authority Non Runners: 1, 2, 9, 16, 22 William Hill Handicap Hurdle (1.20pm) And they’re off … Jipcot, always held up in the past, is up there in the very early stages … Building Bridges has taken over the lead … Dartan and Timmy Tuesday are also prominent … Act Of Authority and Double Powerful are at the back … no fallers with a circuit to go … and not much change in the running order for now … but Bill Joyce has gone at the first hurdle in the back straight … he’s up and going on riderless … Building Bridges has kicked clear with Dartan who is under pressure … Timmy Tuesday comes with a challenge … Deep Cave comes late and gets there close home. I love that ITV still open up their National day coverage (as the Beeb used to) with the theme music from the 1984 film Champions based on the victory of Bob Champion and Aldaniti in 1981. I still haven’t seen the movie but I found it for a quid last year on DVD. William Hill Handicap Hurdle (1.20pm) betting Act Of Authority 4/1 Catch Him Derry 9/2 Billy Joyce 6/1 Timmy Tuesday 7/1 Rushmount 8/1 Park Of Kings 9/1 Double Powerful 12/1 Kamsinas 14/1 Barry Lyndon 20/1 Push The Button 22/1 25/1 BAR – 17 Runners Full betting at Oddschecker William Hill Handicap Hurdle (1.20pm) preview Five non-runners in the opener but still a very competitive handicap hurdle to unravel. The current top two in the betting, Catch Him Derry and Act Of Authority, were both placed in similar races at last month’s Cheltenham festival (the Pertemps Final and the Martin Pipe respectively) while the novice Bill Joyce has been mixing it in Graded company so far and makes his handicap debut here. Two Irish-trained runners with last-time out wins to consider too are Timmy Tuesday and Rushmount, and while the form of Gordon Elliott’s stable is something of a concern – he’s had an 8pc strike rate over the last fortnight – there’s plenty to like about Timmy Tuesday, who posted a strong time when successful at Down Royal in March and seems sure to be better still now he steps up to three miles. SELECTION: TIMMY TUESDAY News … from Flat racing has just broken. Hayley Turner, a Group One-winning rider and the first woman to partner 100 Flat winners in Britain in a single calendar year, has announced she is quitting the saddle. Turner said: “I have decided to retire from being a jockey following my winner at Southwell last week especially as I had my first ride at the racecourse on 27 March, 2000. I am very excited to also announce that I am having a baby in October, all being well, which I have been planning for the last two years. My family and I are all very excited. “I would like to thank everyone that has supported me over the years especially Michael Bell, David Simcock, Andrew Balding and Harry Eustace. I would also like to thank my riding agent, Guy Jewell, who has been my agent for the majority of my career. I am looking forward to my next life chapter but will be focusing on the baby in the short term.” If you go to the National do take a trip around the track. The fences are not as fearsome of course but it’s still a unique track. Racing Post writer Lee Mottershead has been round the course this morning. Some great heroes who have passed that post first are there today including great dual National winner Tiger Roll. Here’s all the latest going and non-runner news. Mildmay (the non-National races) & Hurdle Courses: Good Grand National Course: Good to Soft Non-Runners today 1.20pm William Hill Top Price Guarantee Handicap Hurdle (Premier Handicap) 1 Maximilian (Going) 2 Jeriko du Reponet (Going) 9 Bo Zenith (Going) 16 Nurse Susan (Going) 22 Navajo Indy (Bruised Foot) 1.55pm Turners Mersey Novices’ Hurdle (Grade 1) 2 Fingle Bridge (Going) 10 Moon Phases (Going) 12 Lulamba (Going) 2.30pm William Hill Handicap Chase (Premier Handicap) 4 Myretown (Not Eaten Up) 7 Peaky Boy (Not Eaten Up) 10 Doctor Ken (Going) 12 Heltenham (Going) 3.05pm Ivy Liverpool Hurdle (Grade 1) 3 Dashel Drasher (Going) 5.35pm Weatherbys National Hunt Flat Race (Grade 2) 1 Blofeld (Going) 2 Camberwell (Going) 5 Edward Sexton (Going) 6 El Cairos (Going) Hello and welcome to Grand National day, the biggest day of the racing year bar none and the one event that truly transcends the sport. Personally, I loved the days before racing’s weights-and-measures man, Phil “Tinkerman” Smith, started to fiddle about with the race but these days it’s truly wide open and the shortlists have become ever longer – everyone has an opinion which are not as easily dismissed and consequently more and more people are having a wager again. The ending of the Topham Trophy, the race run over the National fences the day before the race every year, summed up the new National … lots in with chances at the last fence, the Irish had the first five and a classy horse prevailed. Matt Tombs wrote very interestingly about the “Plastic National” and what type of horse to go for this year here on the Racing TV website. Whatever your fancy, good luck! Hello from Aintree, where the sun is shining and a 55,000 capacity crowd is assembling for the 2025 Grand National – the race that still stops the nation (or perhaps as much as a third of it, at any rate). The first two days of the meeting have seen some fine performances and excellent racing, but when all’s said and done, Aintree’s festival is all about one race and despite complaints in some quarters that it is not what it was, this year’s National could hardly offer a greater depth of possibilities. Quite a few of those possibilities, admittedly, are carrying the same green and gold colours of JP McManus, and the owner – who will take sole control of the all-time record for National winners with four if one of his five runners comes home in front – currently has the top three in the betting: I Am Maximus, who won last year, Iroko and Perceval Legallois. McManus is having one of the best seasons of his near half-century as an owner, and had two winners here yesterday including Gentleman De Mee, in the Topham Chase over the National fences, who achieved the remarkable feat of passing the entire field to win. It is then 12-1 bar the three, which takes in Stumptown, last month’s Cross Country winner at Cheltenham, and the former King George winner, Hewick, while a host of alternatives at a juicy each-way price are lining up behind. The going on the Grand National course is good-to-soft – it has been watered furiously for the last fortnight – while it is good ground on the Mildmay course, which stages the other six races on today’s card. That has resulted in a fair few non-runners through the card, most notably Lulamba, the likely favourite, in the Grade One novice hurdle at 1.50. But the big-race field is assembled and intact, it is the nation’s biggest collective day at the races and, as ever, all the news, insight and action will be here on the blog from the first race to the last.