A familiar trainer came to the fore to win the 2025 Grand National, but perhaps not with the horse many were expecting. Willie Mullins bagged another Grand National, but it was Nick Rockett who took the race, one of his many outsiders in the contest.
Ridden by his son and amateur jockey Patrick Mullins, it was a real family affair for the trainer, who continues to dominate the highest ranks of racing on both sides of the Irish Sea.
Not content with training the winner, he actually bagged a 1-2-3 as I Am Maximus finished second, and Grangeclare West finished third.
A safely put together race, with plenty of runners finishing and plenty in with a chance of winning as the horses approached the final couple of fences, this wasn’t the usual test.
But it was Mullins on top, training the first three home and five of the first seven in what was a race notable for Irish dominance.
Results
Non Finishers
What Happened in the 2025 Grand National?
Nick Rockett landed the 2025 Grand National with a winning distance recorded of two and a half lengths.
Trained by Willie Mullins and ridden by Patrick Mullins, he was one of six runners in the race for the Irish handler. According to the betting odds, he was the joint outsider of the six, returning with an SP of 33/1.
Being the mount of Patrick Mullins, some would argue that he was higher up in the pecking order than his betting odds suggest, and there were plenty of reasons in the form book to think he’d run a good race.
He would win the Bobbyjo Chase in his prep for the National, a traditionally strong pointer towards the Aintree race and one that many Irish trainers target with their national horses. He also won the Thyestes Chase in January, another race that has in the past produced horses that have run well at Aintree.
I Am Maximus, also trained by Mullins and the winner of the 2024 Grand National, appeared to be coming with a winning run up the home straight, but he was denied and could only finish second. Ridden by stable jockey Paul Townend, it was another excellent run by him carrying top weight.
Grangeclare West would round off the 1-2-3 for Team Mullins, while the first British challenger home was Iroko, who came 4th, a horse that was backed into favouritism on the day.
Mullins Lands Another Big Race Win
Willie Mullins bagged his third Grand National success with Nick Rockett, putting him amongst the greats of racing with that total.
He followed up his 2024 win with I Am Maximus, while his other win was all the way back in 2005 when Hedgehunter gave him his first success in the race.
Such is the power of his stable at the moment, and the dominance he’s having over the sport as a whole, you certainly wouldn’t bet against him coming back to win the race again in the very near future.
You could argue that “only” winning the race three times, as he has right now, would be seen as a little disappointing given what he trains, but of course, this is one of the toughest prizes in the sport to win.
Father & Son Duo Combine for Family Success
Willie Mullins is not the only man from the family associated with the 2025 win, as the horse was ridden by his son, Patrick Mullins.
In winning the contest, Patrick becomes the fourth person from the Mullins family to win the Grand National, alongside his father and cousins David and Emmet.
Patrick has been a strong and much needed part of the Mullins team for many years now but has always retained his amateur status, which actually is partly the key to his success, as he can ride in races where the professionals can’t.
However, this does also impact his Grand National win. I’m sure his dad will sort him out with some funds, but technically, because he’s an amateur, Patrick isn’t allowed to pick up the rider’s winnings from the race, usually, 8%, which would be around £40,000 for this particular win.
This is standard for all amateurs in races and can make a lot of difference when the prize pots are big like we see with the Grand National.
Irish Continue to Dominate Racing in the UK
The landscape of British racing continues to be dominated by horses that are trained in Ireland. If Britain thought it was clawing anything back, then the Grand National result showed us that we need to think again.
It wasn’t just Willie Mullins either. Although he filled the first three places, horses from other stables joined in to give Ireland a grip on the finishing runners.
Ireland was responsible for the first three home in the race, while when you look further back, just two of the first 10 home, Iroko in 4th and Twig in 10th, were trained in Britain.
It may have been the Mullins show once again in terms of the winner, but when you look past that, the Irish continue to have the upper hand when it comes to depth, too, providing more runners, getting more placed efforts, and once again in 2025, dominating the top 10 home in the Grand National.
Almost Half the Field Finish, with Just Five Fallers
There were plenty of positives to come out of the Grand National in terms of safety and welfare, which is always going to be spoken about when this race comes around.
Firstly, every single runner went home safely from the race, and there were no deaths in the Grand National this year. Outsider Celebre d’Allen did die 3 days later, he pulled up at the final fence and while initially it looked like he was recovering he then deteriorated in the subsequent days. Celebre d’Allen’s jockey Michael Nolan received a 10 day ban when stewards at the course ruled he had continued when his mount had no more to give and was losing ground.
Secondly, the number of fallers was drastically reduced, while the number of finishers was at a high level.
16 out of 34 runners would complete the Aintree course, almost half of the field, a strong effort. Of the 18 runners that didn’t complete, just five of them were due to an incident at a fence.
Three runners fell, one was brought down by a horse falling in front of it, and one unseated its rider after making a mistake.
The other 13 were all pulled up by their jockey at various intervals during the race.
In terms of safety, the race was a huge success, and especially with faller numbers as they were, it’s a race that Aintree and the BHA will no doubt use to show that the modifications to the course are working and are a way to ensure this great race remains a staple of the horse racing calendar for many years to come.