Grand National<\/a> at Aintree has begun to take shape after the five-day entry stage was confirmed on Monday.<\/p>\nLast year’s winner I Am Maximus heads the confirmations as Willie Mullins\u2019 nine-year-old will attempt to add his name to an elite list who have won the race more than once.<\/p>\n
Six horses were absent from today’s stage and thus will not take part in this year’s competition.<\/p>\n
Those were L\u2019Homme Presse, Capodanno, Velvet Elvis and Minella Drama (all of whom had previously been guaranteed a run) as well as two horses not within the 34-horse cut line \u2013 Fontaine Collonges and Quick Wave.<\/p>\n
Following the withdrawals, Celebre d\u2019Allen, Three Card Brag and Twig are now guaranteed a run in the 34-runner field.<\/p>\n
Appreciate It, Minella Cocooner and Meetingofthewaters are also set to represent Mullins, with Capodanno his only horse in the top 34 not confirmed on Monday morning.<\/p>\n
Former King George winner Hewick, last year\u2019s third and 2021 Gold Cup hero Minella Indo and Intense Raffles – Tom Gibney\u2019s seven-year-old who won the Irish National last season – are also among a typically strong Irish contingent.<\/p>\n
Paul Nicholls has five contenders as he goes in search of a second win in the race, with Kandoo Kid, Bravemansgame, Threeunderthrufive, Hitman and Stay Away Fay among the 57 horses to stand their ground.<\/p>\n
Duffle Coat is set to take the final place in the race, as he boasts a higher current rating than both Shakem Up\u2019Arry and Roi Mage, with all three due to carry 10st 4lb. There will also be four reserves.<\/p>\n
Below is the confirmed list of 34:<\/p>\n
\n- I Am Maximus<\/li>\n
- Royale Pagaille<\/li>\n
- Nick Rockett<\/li>\n
- Grangeclare West<\/li>\n
- Hewick<\/li>\n
- Minella Indo<\/li>\n
- Appreciate It<\/li>\n
- Minella Cocooner<\/li>\n
- Conflated<\/li>\n
- Stumptown<\/li>\n
- Hitman<\/li>\n
- Beauport<\/li>\n
- Bravemansgame<\/li>\n
- Chantry House<\/li>\n
- Threeunderthrufive<\/li>\n
- Perceval Legallois<\/li>\n
- Kandoo Kid<\/li>\n
- Iroko<\/li>\n
- Intense Raffles<\/li>\n
- Senior Chief<\/li>\n
- Idas Boy<\/li>\n
- Fil Dor<\/li>\n
- Broadway Boy<\/li>\n
- Coko Beach<\/li>\n
- Stay Away Fay<\/li>\n
- Meetingofthewaters<\/li>\n
- Monbeg Genius<\/li>\n
- Vanillier<\/li>\n
- Horantzau D’Airy<\/li>\n
- Hyland<\/li>\n
- Celebre D’Allen<\/li>\n
- Three Card Brag<\/li>\n
- Twig<\/li>\n
- Duffle Coat<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The biggest event in the horse racing calendar takes place on Saturday.Last year’s winner I Am Maximus, ridden…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[287,288,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-279","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-grand-national","9":"tag-horse-racing","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0_Maximus-Aintree.jpg\")
Last year’s winner I Am Maximus, ridden by Paul Townend, who heads the confirmations for Saturday’s Randox Grand National at Aintree.(Image: Nigel French for The Jockey Club\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n