Grand National Antepost Tips: All Roads Point Back To Mullins

The weights have now been revealed for the 2025 Grand National at Aintree on Saturday, 5th April and as always a host of experts have been scouring the numbers to see who could be well in. Billy Grimshaw thinks one horse sticks out like a sore thumb and makes the case here...

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck. This is a phrase we obsessed with racing would do well to remember a lot of the time, as sometimes the most blindingly obvious clues and hints are staring us in the face so plainly we assume it is 'too simple' and go digging for more unique or obscure angles as to why something else will triumph. I Am Maximus was a stunningly impressive winner of the 2024 renewal of the Grand National and at the age of just eight last season when triumphing and still being lightly raced, he always looked a horse destined to come back and attempt to defend his title.

He will be back in 2025 and has had a similar season in building up to the big one, for all there were some who hoped he'd emerge as a Gold Cup contender given the manner of his win last season off a big weight. He's not hit the heights he'd have needed to this campaign to book that ticket, but Willie knows how to make this lad tick on the big day and he has every chance in a race which I believe will see more and more repeat winners in the next few decades with all the changes to the contest - which I am in favour of by the way, as safety and welfare is paramount in racing's greatest shop window contest - meaning it is now effectively just another high class handicap chase.

With top weight to deal with this season, however, and the likelihood he won't get his favoured soft ground again at Aintree in early April, he is probably not an antepost play at this stage. I do think he'll at least place, and he could indeed win, but with sexier profile horses available at much bigger prices right now I Am Maximus is a horse you can wait until closer to race time to back. His stablemate MEETINGOFTHEWATERS, however, is a horse I foresee going off single figures and as such the 25/1 on offer right now simply must be snaffled.

At the weights launch it was hard for any reporter to pin Willie Mullins down on his main fancy, as the master of Closutton never gives much away at these kind of events and had plenty of potential runners he could give a token mention to in order to eat away interview time, however he did make a point of saying how happy he was with the conditions Meetingofthewaters will be running off on his second attempt in the race. Watching the 2024 renewal back after reading the weights, I did not like the way his effort seemed to stop fairly abruptly, which looked to be a case of the gas tank simply hitting empty, but there were mittigating factors.

Firstly, this was his first run over these obstacles and he was still a novice. Over the years we have seen plenty of horses perhaps never win the National but certainly take a massive step forward from their first run to their second in the contest, and with Meetingofthewaters a year older and wiser with a very fair looking 10st8 on his back (provided all the principals turn up) the same weight he carried in 2024, a repeat seventh place is surely his floor position this campaign barring accident or misfortune. Further bonuses for his chances are the fact that last year's race was run in a bog compared to the last five Grand Nationals judging by the finishing times and the ground staff's opinions, so with this horse known to want it on the firmer side he should be less energy sapped by the under hoof conditions on his second attempt.

We have missed the massive prices about this lad and annoyingly as I type this I've just seen the remaining 33/1 in the marketplace disappear, but with JP as his owner, Willie Mullins as his trainer and with a profile like his I can see him being smashed up closer to the time. Something that may stop him being hammered into single figures is the phenomenal strength in depth JP has in the race, with Inothewayurthinkin, I Am Maximus and Iroko all shorter than him right now in the green and gold. At the prices, however, only one makes appeal and it is last year's seventh placed runner so back him now before his price drops any further.