National hero I Am Maximus takes the plaudits in Leighlinbridge

I Am Maximus was once again the star of the show as the dual Randox Grand National hero enjoyed his homecoming parade on Thursday evening.

Such events have become regular occurrences in Leighlinbridge, with trainer Willie Mullins winning the world’s most famous steeplechase in each of the past three years – the first to achieve that feat since Vincent O’Brien in the 1950s – while just last month the master of Closutton paraded his fifth Cheltenham Gold Cup winner in the past eight seasons.

Four weeks on it was the returning star of Aintree who was the centre of attention, with I Am Maximus, Mullins and jockey and Paul Townend on hand to celebrate the JP McManus-owned gelding becoming the first horse since Red Rum in 1977 to regain the National crown, having struck Aintree gold for the first time in 2024.

“It was always the plan after Christmas, JP was very keen,” Mullins said.

“We put him in the Gold Cup, but JP was very keen just to go for Grand National and, even with top-weight, he always had a great chance because of the way he handled the racetrack.

“You’ll never know in the Grand National, you have to take your chance on the day because you don’t know what’s going to happen good or bad. Look at our faller at the first fence, Grangeclare West, we thought he’d go very close this year.

“That’s the nature of racing and that’s the nature of the Grand National, so you need a lot of luck.”

After his second place last year, I Am Maximus is building a Red Rum-type CV when it comes to Aintree and the hope now is he can further emulate the late Ginger McCain’s icon as a three-time National winner next year.

“That’s plan A (to return to Aintree), all being well we will try to do that next year,” said Mullins, on what was murky evening but not one that could dampen the spirits of those in attendance, which included McManus.

Despite his Aintree triumph, Mullins cannot catch Dan Skelton in the defence of his British trainers’ championship – but has far from given up hope of catching Gordon Elliott to deny the Cullentra handler his first domestic title.

Mullins added: “It’s going to be tough, Gordon has set a fair pace this year, we are slowly, slowly catching up, but we need everything to go our way, so who knows. We are going to give it our best shot.”

Also present was Boylesports Irish Grand National winner Soldier In Milan, trained by the champion trainer’s nephew and neighbour, Emmet Mullins.

The latter saddled Noble Yeats to win the 2022 National at Aintree and Soldier In Milan could also be bound for Merseyside one day following his 16-length victory in the Irish version at Fairyhouse on Easter Monday.

“It’s amazing to winning an Irish National in its own right, but we will probably aim for an English National next year and if he can put in the same jumping performance, he’ll go a long way,” Mullins said.

“We were always happy with the way we went about it. We knew it was a risk not having the handicap experience, but we just felt that he was on a workable mark and we were getting a run.

“It was always going to be a chance that he wouldn’t have the experience, but we were hoping his class would overcome it.”

After the wide-margin success, jockey Donagh Meyler revealed the Bagenalstown trainer had told him to wait as long as he could. But Mullins admitted he was unfazed when he saw his charge hit the front.

“I suppose when he took it up four out I hadn’t panicked,” he added. “Donagh was still very comfortable and hadn’t budged.

“Judging by how Donagh was looking, he rode him with confidence and he was never in any doubt, and neither was I.

“Paul (Byrne, owner) has been a big part of the yard for a lot of years now and we’ve had a lot of good success. It’s hard to compare to that so it will live long in the memory.”