Irish amateur rider Patrick Mullins has won the Grand National on 33/1 shot Nick Rockett – a horse trained by his father Willie Mullins.
It was a 1-2-3 finish for Mullins Snr as he also trains I Am Maximus (7/1), which came second this time after winning the world-famous steeplechase last year, while another of his horses, Grangeclare West (33/1), was third.
After the final fence, Nick Rockett galloped away from I Am Maximus to win by two and a half lengths, in front of about 70,000 racegoers at Aintree on Merseyside.
Grangeclare West was a further half-length back, with Iroko taking fourth as the 13-2 favourite.
Mullins also had the fifth-placed horse in Meetingofthewaters (20/1).
As well as being back-to-back victories for Willie Mullins, it was also his third Grand National success 20 years after his first with Hedgehunter.
“It is lovely to be able to give your son a ride in the National,” Willie Mullins said, “but to be able to win it is just unbelievable”.
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Patrick Mullins told ITV Racing: “I had too good a start and was having to take him back all the way. I was wondering at Canal Turn had I lost too much ground, but he just jumped fantastic.
“Then I was there too soon and it is a long way from the back of the last with Paul Townend (on I Am Maximus) on my outside.
“It’s everything I’ve dreamed of since I was a kid, I know it’s a cliche but when I was five or six years old, reading books about the National and watching black and white videos of Red Rum. To put my name there is very special.”
Emotional winner
Five of the top seven horses were trained by Willie Mullins but Nick Rockett was the emotional winner in the colours of Stewart Andrew and co-owner wife Sadie, who died of cancer in December 2022 after entrusting the horse to Mullins.
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The Grand National – a race for 34 horses over 30 fences – has long been regarded as one of the most dangerous horse races in the world because of the size of the fences.
However, a number of new measures were introduced last year in an attempt to make it safer.
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