I Am Maximus - credit John Grossick/The Jockey Club
I Am Maximus heading for Grand National campaign as he seeks to repeat 2024 Aintree win
By David Ord
17:01 · WED October 16, 2024
It’s a time of year when many wait for the white smoke to emerge from a small corner of County Carlow.
What are Willie Mullins’ plans for the most powerful team of National Hunt horses ever assembled? But on Wednesday lunchtime there was only one horse and one target.
I Am Maximus is heading back to Aintree to defend his Randox Grand National crown.
It was captured in the most remarkable fashion, with a finishing surge from the elbow that careered him to a widening seven-and-a-half length victory over of Delta Work and the rest.
A National that going to the second-last looked like producing a blanket finish rarely before seen in the great race, blown apart by a single horse.
I Am Maximus with National winning connections (Credit Grossick Photography/The Jockey Club)
In the immediate aftermath on that April afternoon, the trainer spoke of the winner being a Gold Cup horse, a Grade One performer. He might be. But he’s running in the Grand National.
“After the National last year, I said I think he’s a Gold Cup horse and still do but I think connections are much happier to go back for the National and have another go at it," the champion trainer explained.
"Red Rum won three and Tiger Roll won two and I think JP would be keen to have a horse that won two – and maybe go back for a third.
"If you don’t try, you don’t succeed so that’s our plan.
"In reality he’s not going to have a lot more weight to carry than last year – he had 11st 6lb then and is likely to have 11st 12lb this time and he’s matured and is still maturing.
"I was delighted with how he came back from a summer’s grass and how strong he came back, so I think he could make that jump and carry the weight, at least that’s what we’re hoping."
Paul Townend celebrates aboard I Am Maximus
It’s not as if I Am Maximus ever appealed to those outside the Mullins team as a natural fit for Aintree. He’s had fencing issues over the years and even came out of Graeme North’s jumpability ratings for last season’s race as the worst jumper in the field.
But Mullins had long thought he was a perfect fit for the event.
"There’s always so much going on in his mind, I just thought Aintree, those fences, the big field, would grab his attention and that’s exactly what happened,” he said.
“If there’s nothing going on here, he’s always skedaddling around the place and up to mischief. This morning when we brought him out for the photographs, I was actually pleased with how calm he was.
“When we took him down to the village to the Lord Bagenal for the Grand National winners’ return in April we had to box him back up after 15 minutes because we were worried he was going to boil over.
“When we brought Galopin Des Champs, State Man and Jasmin De Vaux down after Cheltenham, we thought we’d be well home and have them settled in their boxes by 6.30 at the latest. We were still there well after seven o’clock with kids fussing, patting and holding them. I wouldn’t do that with I Am Maximus, he’s a different kettle of fish."
For many, winning a Randox Grand National can act as a springboard in their careers. Clearly in 2024 Willie Mullins didn't need one – but back in 2005, how big a helping hand was Hedgehunter's success?
“To me that was a life goal at the time, to win a National. I didn’t look at it as a springboard, I looked at it as an achievement. If I never had another runner in the National, we’d been there and done it. There was a great sense of achievement.
“He fell at the last the previous year so having gone so close, to go back 12 months on, plan it out and have someone like Ruby (Walsh) to give him the ride he did, it was special. I saw it as a lifetime achievement then and still do."
I Am Maximus pictured at Willie Mullins' yard (Credit: Grossick Photography/The Jockey Club)
Both of Mullins’ National winners had Grade One form and, in the new-look National, the trainer feels class may ultimately win out.
“It’s going to make it easier for those horses. Whether that’s good for the National or not I don’t know. The National is all about the handicap chaser who can come from anywhere and possibly the changes do make that difference, maybe the classier horse is going to have a better chance and people are more likely to run them because the race has possibly got safer.
"I think owners would be more inclined to pitch a horse at the National nowadays."
A Gold Cup winner, say?
"I think I would. But it would probably be a 33/1 winner of the Gold Cup who already has his weight and has gone under the radar.
"It’s a tough thing to do, to have a hard race in a Gold Cup and come back 21 days later, but nowadays they keep Aintree away from Cheltenham which is good. A lot of times it was too close but now everyone has the chance to run well at the Festival and then go on to Liverpool."
As we leave for the coach and the journey back to the airport we pass Galopin Des Champs, being brushed down after morning exercise.
No Randox Grand National for him this year. But if the Road To Aintree goes smoothly, I Am Maximus will bid to break new ground for his trainer, by winning back-to-back renewals.
No histrionics at the weights lunch, no mind games with Martin Greenwood - they expect top weight and will receive it. But watch the 2024 replay again, that power at the finish. Will six pounds more in the saddle really stop him?
WATCH: I Am Maximus wins 2024 Randox Grand National
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