At Aintree, in what might be the most emotional family day out since your cousin’s third wedding, Nick Rockett blasted home to win the 2025 Randox Grand National—giving trainer Willie Mullins not just a one-two finish, but a one-two-three. As if dominating the biggest steeplechase on earth wasn’t enough, he did it with his son in the saddle. Classic overachiever behaviour.
Ridden by the only amateur in the race, 35-year-old Patrick Mullins—who just happens to be the most successful amateur jockey in Irish history—the 33-1 shot beat last year’s winner I Am Maximus and stable mate Grangeclare West. If it were a school project, Mullins would be accused of doing everyone else’s homework.
Willie Mullins, normally cooler than a cucumber in a cryogenic chamber, was visibly choked up. “This is the summit,” he said, after watching his son steer their horse to glory. “I never thought I’d have that feeling.” Under his trilby, the tears flowed—making him, for once, the only one wetter than the Aintree turf.
The real tear-jerker? The winning horse was owned by Yorkshire businessman Stewart Andrew and his late wife Sadie, who had insisted on having a horse with Mullins before her passing in 2022. Nick Rockett was her dream horse, and with a nod to the heavens, he delivered a result that had fate written all over it.
Patrick, meanwhile, looked like a man who had just won the world’s biggest lottery with a £1 Lucky Dip. “He was jumping brilliant, but I was taking him back everywhere,” he admitted, with the kind of cool understatement that suggests he might casually pilot the next Mars mission in his spare time.
NICK ROCKETT leads home a 1-2-3 for Willie Mullins in the 2025 Randox Grand National! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/RzMhjuQ7Ip
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) April 5, 2025
Behind them, 16 brave finishers crossed the line. A few fallers, a few pulled up, but thankfully no major injuries. Broadway Boy and his jockey Tom Bellamy were treated after a fall, while Nick Rockett, the hero of the hour, eventually took a victory lap—no doubt wondering why the humans were so emotional about what was, to him, just a nice long gallop with some jumps in the way.
All in all, it was a historic day: one amateur, three top horses, and a trainer so dominant that you’d be forgiven for checking whether the other stables had accidentally entered a different race.
One thing’s for sure: Willie Mullins now owns the Grand National, and he didn’t even have to buy it.
I felt so bad for that poor horse that landed on its neck horrific