The Grand National may be an English sporting institution, but it’s a long time since the home fans had anything to wave their flags about.
Many Clouds was the last English-trained winner and that was in 2015, since when Ireland has taken the world’s most famous jumps race by the throat.
It is now almost total domination; in both 2024 and 2025 their runners completed a 1-2-3 clean sweep with eight finishing in the first 10.
I Am Maximus and Grangeclare West, second and third behind Saturday’s absentee Nick Rockett in last year’s race, are predictably at the head of the market this time and there’s bags of Irish back-up – two-thirds of the maximum 34-strong field have arrived by ferry or plane hop.
But it’s not a foregone conclusion. There is a solid home defence this time in the form of Panic Attack (bidding to become the first mare to win the National since 1951), recent unpenalised Cheltenham Festival winners Johnnywho and Jagwar, and the latter’s stablemate Iroko, best of the Brits in fourth last year.
And what about Wales? The last time the Welsh had anything to celebrate was way back in 1905, but now they have a real contender in Haiti Couleurs.
Trained by Rebecca Curtis on the Pembrokeshire coast, Haiti Couleurs has already won the Irish and Welsh Grand Nationals, so we know that stamina won’t be an issue, nor his ability to cope with crowds of horses and noisy racegoers.
He can, though, have an off-day and did so when fancied to put on a big show in the Cheltenham Gold Cup last month. But if he’s back on song, he’ll be hard to peg back under champion jockey Sean Bowen.
Also born and bred in Wales, Bowen is AP McCoy-esque in his relentless hunt for winners; he has ridden over 100 more than any of his rivals in his done-and-dusted quest for a second title.
My Grand National tips for 2026
1 Haiti Couleurs (Best Bet) 2 Grangeclare West 3 I Am Maximus 4 Three Card BragAnd other Aintree tips on Saturday
12.45 Salvator Mundi 1.20 Kaka’s Cousin (Each-Way) 1.55 Bossman Jack 2.30 Mr Hope Street (Next Best) 3.05 Strong Leader 5.00 Bass HunterBut like McCoy, who finally broke his duck at the 15th attempt, Bowen has yet to experience the euphoria of an Aintree Grand National victory, despite 10 tries.
Haiti Couleurs needs to bounce back to his best if he’s to be “the one”, but he has done it before and this type of contest is evidently his forte.
Bowen is optimistic. “He wasn’t as fresh and well as he can be at Cheltenham and the ground was a bit quick,” he said. “And I’m sure Becky [Curtis] will have him back right for the day.
“I’ve always dreamed of winning the Grand National. There have been changes, but it’s still a magical race.”
Grangeclare West is a close second choice. He was a strong-finishing third last April and might even have beaten his Willie Mullins stablemates had he not clouted the last fence.
What else among the 34? Well, everything else. This is the Grand National and there won’t be one horse unbacked around the UK and Ireland on this one day of the year when just about everybody has a flutter.
Ladbrokes did some research this week and found that one-third of the public will have their fivers on favourite family names. That brings in around a dozen, including Gerri (Colombe), Johnny(who), (Gorgeous) Tom and (Top Of The) Bill.
Hence then, the article about i m a racing expert here are my grand national tips for 2026 was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( I’m a racing expert – here are my Grand National tips for 2026 )
Also on site :