Grand National 2026 tips: AP McCoy, Ruby Walsh and Rachael Blackmore reveal their favourite

Neither Ruby Walsh nor Rachael Blackmore have backed favourite I Am Maximus to win the 2026 Grand National today.

The full list of runners and riders has been confirmed ahead of the main race at Aintree, which starts at 4pm BST.

There is no place in the race for the 2025 winner, Nick Rockett, who was forced to withdraw from the race on Thursday morning after being found with a cough.

And so, all the eyeballs will be on the 2024 winner and last year’s runner-up, I Am Maximus, as the Willie Mullins-trained gelding looks to become just the ninth horse to win the race on more than one occasion.

And Sir AP McCoy, who won the iconic race with Don’t Push It in 2010, is backing the favourite to reward owner JP McManus with another Grand National winner.

‘I actually thought I Am Maximus was a bit unlucky not to win back to back Grand Nationals,’ he told the Echo.

‘I fancy him again to carry top weight and I still think he’s got a very good chance.

‘I thought Iroko ran such a great race last year.

He’s going to be much better off having that experience.

But I’m going to stick with I Am Maximus.

‘I think he’s a classy horse.

He was unlucky not to win last year and he’s ran a couple of great ones in Ireland.

He ran the big race in Leopardstown, the Gold Cup.

I still think he’s a class horse and I think he can carry the weight.’
Not everyone is lining up to back the favourite, though, with former jockey and ITV analyst Ruby Walsh backing Grangeclare West after his third-place finish in the race last year.

‘I think I Grangeclare West was unlucky last year,’ Walsh said on Paddy Power’s From the Horses Mouth Podcast.

‘When you watch back the race, he was plenty close to a strong pace and a mistake at the last, I think, cost him the race.

‘I think the drying ground – the forecast is dry from here on – and the wind is quite strong.

So, talking to the lads after racing, they felt it was beautiful and safe ground, but it is on the drier side.

I think that caught I am Maximus out last year and I think it will catch him out again.

I see him as a place chance.’
Robbie Power, who won the Grand National on Silver Birch in 2007 is also backing Grangeclare West, telling Boyle Sports: ‘He ran very well in the race last year and I think he was unlucky as he made a mistake at the wrong time at the last fence.

With that experience under his belt, I think he’s the one they all have to beat this year.’
Elsewhere, Racheal Blackmore is looking further down the odds board and fancies Monty’s Star to provide Henry de Bromhead with a winner.

‘I think he’ll enjoy the ground over there.

He’s a fantastic jumper, and I think he could run a big race,’ the 2021 winner told Metro.
‘Henry doesn’t bring anything over if he doesn’t think they have a big chance, and this horse has grade one form.

‘He was second to Fact To File in Cheltenham.

He’s had a little setback after that run, but he seems to be back.

He had a good run this year, and I think he’ll enjoy the ground.

He’ll enjoy a lot about what the Grand National is about, and I think he could run a big race.’
Meanwhile, ITV presenter Matt Chapman is backing Iroko to come up trumps on Saturday afternoon.

Speaking to Paddy Power, he said: ‘What a story this could be.

Jonjo O’Neill (trained the winner thanks to Don’t Push It) never won the Grand National as a jockey, but I’m sure he’d get a big kick if his son Jonjo O’Neill Jr achieved the feat.

‘Iroko was a plodding fourth last year, and is now 5lb higher in the handicap.

However, he’s relatively young and has a lovely racing weight of 11st 1lb – forget his run at Cheltenham, where he scoped dirty.

‘Prior to that, he did well to stuff Firefox at Ascot.

As for Iroko himself, he’s always been a horse with loads of talent, and of course banged in the Martin Pipe at Cheltenham in 2023.’
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