I Am Maximus

The headline on his CV is a Class 1 win at Aintree in April 2024, one of the most prestigious prizes in British racing. He went back to Aintree this week — just a day ago — and won again. Two visits to that famous course, two wins. Mullins has made no secret of where this horse belongs, saying publicly that all roads lead back to Aintree and the Grand National, a race I Am Maximus has already run with enormous credit on multiple occasions. When a trainer of Mullins' standing maps out a horse's entire season around one destination, it tells you something about how seriously they take that horse's chance.

The partnership with jockey Paul Townend is worth noting too. The pair have raced together 5 times and won twice — a 40% win rate, or 2 from every 5 rides. That is a remarkably productive combination by any measure. Townend's own words after Aintree were telling: he described the horse as one who took him brilliantly through the race, quick to find daylight when it came, and electric once asked to go. Mullins added that the horse is quirky and still immature — quite something to say about a 10-year-old — but that he's clearly improving and may yet have his best days ahead of him.

His record at Fairyhouse is the other strand worth pulling on: 2 wins from just 3 races there, making it arguably his most reliable hunting ground. He also converts at 50% on soft, wet ground — winning 2 of 4 races in those conditions — which suggests he handles a real test of stamina with ease. At the very top level, Class 1 races, he has won 1 from 5 attempts, which sounds modest until you remember that those are the hardest races in the sport. Getting any horse to win at that level is an achievement. Getting one to do it twice at Aintree, in the same week you're already planning the next visit, starts to feel like something more than coincidence.