Top-weight I Am Maximus part of strong McManus assault on Aintree

Image from Alamy – 2X3JANG Winning trainer Willie Mullins poses with the Champion Trainer trophy after Minella Cocooner won the bet365 Gold Cup Handicap Chase on bet365 Jump Finale day at Sandown Park Racecourse, Esher. Picture date: Saturday April 27, 2024.

Defending champion I Am Maximus is set to carry top-weight in the Grand National at Aintree following the announcement of the weights for the race.

Champion trainer Willie Mullins won the Aintree showpiece for the second time in 2024 when I Am Maximus scored by a decisive seven-and-a-half-lengths and JP McManus’s nine-year-old tops the weights now, up 8lb from last year’s mark.

He will bid to become the first back-to-back winner since Tiger Roll in 2019 and the first to defy top weight of 11st 12lb since L’Escargot in 1975 and he could be joined by a very strong team in the famous silks of his owner.

Mullins with plenty of chances

Mullins has 10 entries in a race he won for the first time with Hedgehunter in 2005 and last year’s seventh-place finished Meetingofthewaters catches his eye.

Irish Gold Cup runner-up Grangeclare West (11st 8lb) is the joint-second highest-weighted of Mullins’ team.

Nick Rockett (also 11st 8lb) won the Thyestes Chase at Gowran Park last month while Appreciate It, Capodanno and Minella Cocooner have all been set to carry 11st 2lb.

The Closutton chief likes Meetingofthewaters and hopes to get I Am Maximus back in prime condition.

“My eye was drawn to Meetingofthewaters when I saw his weight. Last year he was looking almost like the winner coming to the second-last, he was certainly going well within himself. He’s a year older and stronger and he has a lovely racing weight,” said the trainer.

“Hopefully [I Am Maximus] go back and be as good as last year. I thought coming away last year that I had a Gold Cup horse then JP discussed it with me and thought he wouldn’t get much more weight than he had last year and he loves the track. So we set out this year to come back to Aintree.”

Elliott dominates the entries

Three-time Grand National-winning trainer Gordon Elliott has 13 entries, including last year’s second Delta Work (11st 2lb) and fourth Galvin (10st 13lb).

The Cullentra House handler expects that number to be halved before the final field is settled.

“We’ll probably end up with five or six in it,” said the trainer, who has struck with Silver Birch (2007) and Tiger Roll (2018 and 2019).

“Delta Work has had a good preparation, he runs off the same mark as last year, but I thought he’d maybe be a little bit lower. He showed a nice bit of zest the last day at Cheltenham so I’m really looking forward to it.

“Galvin ran a great race in it last year, he came home very strong. If the ground came up the drier side he could have a big chance.”

Cromwell’s challenger heads the betting

Gavin Cromwell’s Inothewayurthinkin is the new favourite for the Grand National after the weights for the famous Aintree contest were unveiled.

The seven-year-old impressed at last season’s Aintree festival, winning the Mildmay Novices’ Chase from Iroko, another horse with Grand National ambitions this spring for Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero.

Cromwell insisted at the weights ceremony in London that Inothewayurthinkin was not a certain runner in the National, with the Aintree Bowl and Irish Grand National still possible targets.

Last year’s winning owner McManus is set to have a stellar team, with I Am Maximus back to defend and Inothewayurthinkin, Meetingofthewaters and Iroko amongst the more fancied contenders.

Chantry House (10st 13lb), Perceval Legallois (10st 12lb), Fakir D’Oudairies (10st 11lb) and Limerick Lace (10st 10lb) are all guaranteed a place in the field in the famous green and gold silks.