I Am Maximus WINS the Grand National after a dramatic end to the weekend’s showpiece race at Aintree… with last year’s winner and co-favourite Corach Rambler falling at the first hurdle

Willie Mullins, jump racing’s dominant trainer, won the Randox Grand National with 7-1 joint favorite I Am Maximus for champion owner JP McManus, but does not believe for a second that this was a result devoid of the traditional color of the great race.

The reason the public love this Aintree spectacular is that it delivers stories filled with heroism, romance and the occasional heartbreak.

It is an annual sports melodrama. It even inspired a feature film about Bob Champion’s 1981 victory at Aldaniti after recovering from cancer, and yesterday a new chapter was written, but one tinged with sadness again.

The Paul Townend ridden I Am Maximus did not always run in McManus livery. He was once owned by the late Salford businessman Mike Grech, who named him after his wife Maxine, after being bought for him by his racing manager, three-time Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning trainer Henrietta Knight.

Originally trained by Nicky Henderson, Grech moved I Am Maximus to Mullins when he moved his horses to Ireland. The gelding was then sold to McManus just before he won the Irish Grand National last April when Grech was forced to sell his stud – just five months before his death aged 63.

Knight, speaking from his Oxfordshire stables, said: ‘I saw this horse as a three-year-old and fell in love with him at the Costellos’ farm (in Ireland) where I bought best mate and had to have him. Mike even flew over in a helicopter to see him. All he ever wanted was to have a runner in the Grand National, let alone have thoughts of winning it. Maxine and his five children are at Aintree today. It’s all very emotional.’

There must have been painful regret watching the race for Henderson, who has never won a Grand National during his illustrious career.

He advised Mullins, now in pole position to win his first British Trainers’ Championship thanks to the £500,000 first prize, to ‘put his hand up’ for I Am Maximus, knowing the gelding was extremely talented despite having his fair share of oddities.

The 17-time Irish champion trainer believes the eight-year-old is capable of holding his own in next season’s Cheltenham Gold Cup. Mullins, who won the 2005 Grand National with Hedgehunter and had had 48 runners since without success before saddling eight starters yesterday, said: ‘I had said before the race that we don’t know how good this horse is. I thought he was still some way ahead of the handicap and he has proved that. He’s crooked, but he’s learning all the time. Nicky could see the talent he had, we just had to nurture it.

“He’s not remarkable at home. If you saw him in the field you wouldn’t get past any remark, but he’s obviously got a motor. We think he can go all the way and be a Gold Cup horse.

‘Paul gave him an excellent ride up the inside. You could see him looking for the gaps between the last two fences. When he got it, he turned him on.’

That was an understatement. Jumping the last fence, I Am Maximus, whose jump had contained a few serious blemishes, was still half a dozen horses in front of him, and it didn’t look like he was going to pass them.

But at The Elbow on the iconic inlet the turbocharger kicked in and he sprinted clear of Delta Work, with another 28-1 shot Minella Indo in third.

It was a first Grand National win for Townend, 33, who also landed last month’s Cheltenham Gold Cup for the fourth time on the Mullins-trained Galopin Des Champs. He is the seventh jockey to win both races in the same season and the first since Jim Culloty in 2002.

Townend said: ‘The Gold Cup is the Gold Cup but the Grand Nationals are a bit different and you need so much luck. I can not believe it. I’m a lucky boy. It’s what every young lad with a pony wants to do.’

Yesterday’s race was also notable for a relative lack of incident. Twenty-one of the 32 starters finished and with only two of the 30 fences remaining, 22 horses were close enough to mount a challenge.

In those closing stages, hopes were raised that eventual fifth and first home British runner Kitty’s Light could deliver a fairytale victory for trainer Christian Williams, while Rachael Blackmore must have believed another win was within her reach on Minella Indo .

Corach Rambler’s bid for back-to-back wins in the Grand National ended at the first fence

In total, 21 of the 32-man field completed the race, the joint highest figure since 1992

Latenightpass finished 12th, but for a few strides he looked like he could win for jockey Gina Andrews and her trainer husband Tom Ellis. But then Maximus speed kicked in.

The big disappointment was that the Lucinda Russell-trained 2023 winner Corach Rambler only made it as far as the first fence, clearing Derek Fox.

But Russell managed to salvage a positive, saying: ‘He jumped right over at the first fence.

‘But everything is fine with him. The owners think it’s just as good a feeling to get him back safe and sound this time as winning last year.’