Randox Grand National
Grade 3 Handicap,
Aintree 16:00
£1,000,000 guaranteed
7yo plus, 4m 2f 74y, Class 1   
Saturday 11th April 2026

Iroko kept his place at the top of the market with a workmanlike but thoroughly effective success in the Howden Graduation Chase at Ascot.

Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero were content to tread familiar ground, returning to a race that had come unstuck at the first fence for him 12 months earlier, confident that circumstances — and their horse — were rather different this time.

A second on his reappearance at Haydock behind The Jukebox Man, mirroring his finishing position in the same contest last season, meant he arrived here still eligible for these races with only a single success over fences on his record. That did little to diminish expectations, particularly given his admirable fourth in last year’s National, with Aintree once again very much the long-term destination.

This may have been a small field, but it was not a soft one. Gordon Elliott and Willie Mullins supplied the opposition, and it was Elliott’s Firefox who was sent off the odds-on favourite. His chance unravelled with a serious error two out, and Jonjo O’Neill jnr was quick to seize the initiative aboard Iroko, the 2-1 shot pulling almost five lengths clear at the line. James Du Berlais trailed home in third, just as he had done 12 months ago.

The bookmakers were quick to react. Coral left Iroko unchanged as their 10-1 favourite for the Grand National, while Paddy Power clipped him to 8-1. A return to Kelso now beckons for the Premier Chase, the race in which he finished second earlier in the season, as connections continue to sharpen the focus on his Aintree credentials.

Greenall said: “He needed to go and have a race today and even though it was a three-runner race they quickened up fairly early up the hill and he had to grind it out.

“It takes some time for him to get into gear and get his head down and he was tight at the second last but good at the last and he’s come through good in the end.

“I’m not sure if the other two have run quite up to their marks, Willie’s horse definitely hasn’t and Gordon’s made a few jumping errors towards the end.

“We’re working back from the National and we might go back to Kelso for the race he was second to Grey Dawning in last year. It’s a nice track and not many runners go there and then I think we’ll miss Cheltenham and go straight to Aintree.

“He seems better than last year, trainers always say they seem to strengthen up and it might be true. Jonjo comes and rides him out and says he’s better so I hope he is right.”

Ben Pauling is already plotting a familiar spring route for Twig, with another crack at the big one now very much on the agenda after a stirring success in the Becher Chase at Aintree.

Owned by Georgia Morgan and partnered, to rapturous effect, by her son Beau, the 10-year-old advertised his affection for the National fences once again when edging out Mr Vango in a titanic duel, prevailing by a short head. It was a performance that built on his solid effort when finishing 10th in the world’s most famous steeplechase last April and confirmed Aintree as very much his stage.

The victory also brings with it the prospect of a significant payday, with Twig now eligible for the £500,000 William Hill bonus awarded to any horse able to land a recognised Grand National trial and then follow up in the big one itself. For Pauling, that makes the decision-making process a little easier.

“(Aintree) was a fabulous day for many reasons, but mainly for the Morgan family and Beau.

“He’s a horse that has just kept giving throughout his career. Everyone kept thinking ‘that will be the last time he wins off that mark’ and he just keeps finding another angle.

“I was delighted with the way he ran and jumped. He sort of has to have another go at the National now. It wasn’t necessarily what I was plotting at the start of the season because while he ran well in it last year, he didn’t look like he was ever going to trouble the judge, but he gets a free entry now and there is this £500,000 bonus.

“Looking back at the National last season, it was Beau’s first ride in the race, we rode him fairly quietly early doors and he didn’t lose any ground, he just wasn’t going to make it up.

“If he’s ridden a different way maybe he might be competitive. I’m not saying he’s necessarily the winner, but he’s obviously got a liking for the fences – he hasn’t made a mistake in a National or Becher – and he’d probably go in there a more fancied runner this time anyway.”

Panic Attack has really put her name up in lights, the patient plotting of Dan Skelton and owner Bryan Drew paying off handsomely as she swept the Paddy Power Gold Cup and followed up a fortnight later in the Coral Gold Cup. That second success, a test over three miles and two furlongs, showed beyond doubt that stamina is part of her armoury rather than a question mark.

With that box now ticked, the Randox Grand National suddenly looms large on the horizon. Newbury is pencilled in as the next stepping stone, Kelso also on the radar as the team look to fine-tune her for the world’s most famous steeplechase come April.

“She’s going to go to Newbury in January, there’s a mares’ race for her there,” said Skelton.

“Then she will possibly go to Kelso en route to the Grand National, that’s our aim.

“If we fancy having a go at the mares’ chase at the Cheltenham Festival then we might, but our sights are firmly set on the Grand National.”son and Jonjo said he felt a lot better, which is good.”

Randox Health Grand National 2025
Grade 3, £1,000,000 guaranteed
7yo plus, 4m 2f 74y, Class 1
34 ran
Going: Good to Soft

POS. DIST HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY SP
1    Nick Rockett 8 11-8 W P Mullins Mr P W Mullins 33/1
2 2½ I Am Maximus 9 11-12 W P Mullins Paul Townend 7/1
3 ½ Grangeclare West 9 11-8 W P Mullins Brian Hayes 33/1
4 4½ Iroko 7 10-11 Oliver Greenall & Josh Guerriero Jonjo O'Neill Jr 13/2F
5 2¼ Meetingofthewaters 8 10-7 W P Mullins Danny Mullins 20/1
6 1½ Senior Chief 8 10-10 Henry De Bromhead Darragh O'Keeffe 40/1
7 1½ Minella Cocooner 9 11-2 W P Mullins Jonathan Burke 18/1
8 5½ Hewick 10 11-7 John Joseph Hanlon Gavin Sheehan 14/1
9 4½ Minella Indo 12 11-3 Henry De Bromhead Rachael Blackmore 20/1
10 21 Twig 10 10-5 Ben Pauling Beau Morgan 50/1
11 1 Three Card Brag 8 10-5 Gordon Elliott Sean Bowen 16/1
12 18 Beauport 9 11-1 Nigel Twiston-Davies Sam Twiston-Davies 33/1
13 15 Horantzau d'Airy 8 10-6 Michael Keady Ciaran Gethings 150/1
14 1¼ Vanillier 10 10-6 Gavin Cromwell Sean Flanagan 12/1
15 11 Bravemansgame 10 11-0 Paul Nicholls James Reveley 40/1
16 14 Chantry House 11 10-13 Nicky Henderson James Bowen 66/1
Nolan 125/1
BD Appreciate It 11 11-2 W P Mullins Sean O'Keeffe 28/1
FELL Perceval Legallois 8 10-12 Gavin Cromwell Mark Walsh 10/1
FELL Kandoo Kid 9 10-11 Paul Nicholls Harry Cobden 25/1
FELL Broadway Boy 7 10-9 Nigel Twiston-Davies Tom Bellamy 66/1
PU Monbeg Genius 9 10-6 Jonjo & A J O'Neill Nick Scholfield 50/1
PU Hyland 8 10-6 Nicky Henderson Nico de Boinville 22/1
PU Celebre d'Allen 13 10-6 Philip Hobbs & Johnson White Micheal
PU Conflated 11 11-2 Gordon Elliott Jordan Gainford 100/1
PU Stumptown 8 11-2 Gavin Cromwell Keith Donoghue 10/1
PU Hitman 9 11-1 Paul Nicholls Freddie Gingell 28/1
PU Idas Boy 11 10-10 2 Richard Phillips Harry Bannister 100/1
PU Fil Dor 7 10-9 Gordon Elliott Sam Ewing 50/1
PU Coko Beach 10 10-9 Gordon Elliott Jody McGarvey 40/1
PU Royale Pagaille 11 11-9 Venetia Williams Charlie Deutsch 100/1
PU Intense Raffles 7 10-10 Thomas Gibney J J Slevin 14/1
PU Stay Away Fay 8 10-9 Paul Nicholls Paul O'Brien 66/1
PU Threeunderthrufive 10 10-12 Paul Nicholls Harry Skelton 40/1
UR Duffle Coat 8 10-4 Gordon Elliott Danny Gilligan 33/1

previous winners

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