If you had a flutter on I Am Maximus to win the 2026 Grand National, or landed him in a sweepstake, congratulations.
The Irish raider, trained and ridden by the dream team of Willie Mullins and Paul Townend, prevailed in a chaotic edition of the Aintree showpiece at the weekend.
It was the second time that the JP McManus owned horse had won the Grand National, following his 2024 triumph, which means that he could return to Merseyside next year in a bid to emulate the all-time great, Red Rum, who won three editions of the marathon steeplechase.
When the betting favourite wins a major race like the Grand National, it’s generally bad news for the bookmakers – although they are usually able to lay-off some of their liability with other bookies or on the exchanges.
Someone has just placed ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND pounds on I Am Maximus to win the Grand National 😳#ITVRacing pic.twitter.com/uTRn1OnFUF
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) April 11, 2026
However, so quick was the move on I Am Maximus on Saturday – Mullins’ horse shortened from 8/1 to 9/2 in the hour or so before the off, some were unable to balance their books… and were left fearing the worse.
No more so than Irish firm Fitzwilliam, who accepted a £100,000 win-only bet on I Am Maximus around three hours before the 16:00 start.
But as they scrabbled to limit their liability as the market collapsed, they were left facing a near £1 million payday to the mystery punter.
Or was their identity not a mystery after all… but instead somebody very close to the I Am Maximus camp?
Feeling Numb
| Position | Horse | Trainer | Start Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | I Am Maximus | Willie Mullins | 9/2 Fav |
| 2nd | Iroko | Oliver Greenall & Josh Guerriero | 18/1 |
| 3rd | Jordans | Joseph Patrick O’Brien | 28/1 |
| 4th | Johnnywho | Jonjo & A J O’Neill | 12/1 |
With the threat of that £900,000 payout hanging over their heads, Fitzwilliam’s representatives in the betting ring watched on with the rest of us as the Grand National unfolded at Aintree.
I Am Maximus hadn’t jumped well and barely featured at the front of the field, but Townend plugged along on the hardy stayer.
As the race entered the long Aintree straight, Jordans – ridden by Ben Jones – burst to the front of the field to inject some pace into proceedings, but his ride was unable to sustain his acceleration to the line.
All the while I Am Maximus was creeping closer and closer, and as the finishing post approached it looked like a McManus 1-2-3 was in the offing.
And so it almost proved, with I Am Maximus taking the tape by two lengths from Iroko, with Jordans condemning Johnnywho to fourth place.
Watching on with trepidation was Fitzwilliam’s Michael Gannon, who admitted to feeling ‘numb’ as I Am Maximus got into a position to win.
And he was forced to clarify comments made by his colleague Johnny Dineen, who had joked that the company would be ‘liquidated’ if the big gamble paid off.
“He said he will have to work around it so we don’t go into liquidation, and that is what we did,” Gannon commented.
“We bailed over for a good few quid, we still had a bad race and the person who had a bet is a happy person this evening.”
While Fitzwilliam will live to fight another day, there’s no doubt that the bookies took a bit of a hammering in the Grand National.
Gladiatorial Bloodbath
There are rumours that the bet, described by Dineen as the ‘biggest we’ve ever laid by a mile’, was placed by JP McManus himself.
That’s not been confirmed, although the size of the bet is par for the course for the billionaire. And the fact it was placed with an independent Irish bookmaker – who might not otherwise take such a big bet unless the punter was known personally to them – adds extra fuel to the flames.
I Am Maximus’ victory was bad news for the bookmakers all round, with casual punters piling into the Irish horse in the hours leading up to the Grand National.
William Hill, via spokesman Lee Phelps, are said to have lost north of £10 million on the outcome, while Paddy Power admitted to ‘taking a battering’ as McManus’s horses led an almighty coup for the betting community.
Fred Done likened the result to a ‘gladiatorial bloodbath’, which suggests that his outfit Betfred also took a bit of a hit on Saturday.
Although TV viewing figures were down on last year – 5.2 million tuned in to the race, it’s likely that a larger audience share will tune in to see if I Am Maximus can land a third Grand National title next year.