History beckons for I Am Maximus as Red Rum’s record comes in to view | Greg Wood

Relentless drama, no significant injuries to any of the 34 runners and a winner who inked himself on to the exclusive list of Aintree legends with the possibility of better to come next year. Saturday’s Grand National produced everything racing could realistically hope for and more, and if I Am Maximus can stay sound and return to Aintree in 2027 for a fourth run in the race, it promises to be one of the highlights of the sporting year.

There was a 45-year wait for the next dual Grand National winner after Red Rum’s second success in 1974. Now, seven years after Tiger Roll’s second victory, I Am Maximus is only the third horse since the mid 1930s to register win number two, and the first since the peerless “Rummy” to win in nonconsecutive years. Having also finished a close second in 2025, he is arguably already second only to Red Rum in the list of all-time Aintree greats. He is a marketing person’s dream: a sporting hero who carries a gladiatorial name into combat, always rises to the challenge in the most famous race of the year, and won’t overturn his car or pick a fight in a nightclub.

On second thoughts, cancel the last part. As Willie Mullins revealed on Saturday evening, I Am Maximus would almost certainly end up brawling in any club in the land, having somewhat disgraced himself with lairy behaviour at a victory parade in his local village two years ago. “He’d eat you without salt,” Mullins said, which suggests that regular photo ops will not be a feature of I Am Maximus’s future. What is all but certain, though, is that if I Am Maximus stays fit and sound, he will be back at Aintree on National day next year.

Tiger Roll, for various reasons – including the regular objections by his owner, Michael O’Leary, to the weight he was to carry – never had the chance to add a third win to his record. I Am Maximus, though, has already lugged top weight to victory once and is, to be fair to Tiger Roll and O’Leary, a much bigger and stronger stamp of a chaser than the horse the Ryanair chief described as “a little rat of a thing” after his first win in 2018. JP McManus, who prizes the National above all other races and was celebrating a record fourth win on Saturday, will have no qualms about asking him to do so again.

Jockey Paul Townend is flanked by trainer Willie Mullins (left) and owner JP McManus (right) after victory with I Am Maximus. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

The amount of cash that would be riding on I Am Maximus were he to line up next year is almost beyond imagining. He was the subject of a widely reported bet of £100,000 at 8-1 in the run-up to Saturday’s race and then set off as the 9-2 favourite after a further surge of support. He would surely be among the shortest-priced favourites in National history in next year’s race. Poethlyn, first at 11-4 in 1919, remains the shortest price of them all.

Having won once under top weight already, though, I Am Maximus would also be attempting to defy the march of time. His win on Saturday was the first for a horse older than nine since 2014, when Pineau De Re completed a hat-trick of victories for 11-year-olds. Red Rum was a 12-year-old when he won his third National in 1977, having finished second in 1975 and 1976, but the changes to the course and conditions since then have tended to favour younger, less exposed runners.

Win number three would, inevitably, spark endless debates about which of the pair is the Aintree Goat. On paper at least, Red Rum’s 1-1-2-2-1 record would trump 1-2-1-1, but I Am Maximus is operating in a race that has improved out of all recognition during the past 20 years in terms of the depth and quality of runners.

For the moment, Red Rum, who is buried by the winning post at Aintree, is still out on his own, but I Am Maximus is starting to reel him in, much as he did to Jordans when he was fired into a 10-length lead three out on Saturday. As a result, racing has a 12-month window of opportunity to exploit his celebrity status for all it is worth, and build anticipation to fever-pitch before I Am Maximus’s return to Aintree next year.