GG Jumps Journal - Making the Grand National Rational

Introspection is needed. It’s time for the Rational National.

Joe BloGGs

This column only takes itself semi-seriously, but we are to err far more on the period drama side this week than the sitcom.

The 2025 Grand National was run on Saturday, and the fanfare largely outweighed the fan scare. There were reasons to celebrate a pulsating finale in which an unprecedented 1-2-3 was secured by the great trainer of his, and maybe any generation, with the winner ridden by his son.

Aftermaths are longer than ever for the Grand National, with the postscript sadly reading of Celebre d’Allen’s passing three days after the race having suffered heatstroke, a particularly devastating outcome given how brilliantly the 13-year-old had acquitted himself for so long, both in his career and the National itself.

Yet again, the race finds itself in flux. Perhaps it always will be. But if we are to have a Grand National, and we are to be proud of it, we have to look far beyond the fate of Celebre d’Allen and make sure that introspection is not led by the demands of others.

So here is how I would make the Grand National rational.

It’s the “Grand” National – So Make It An Open Grade 1

As a typical racing fan for whom the Grand National was a gateway to the sport, taking away its handicap status would have seemed unthinkable to me watching every renewal to as recently as 2023. The people’s race demanded people’s participation, not exclusivity for the powerful. We have Cheltenham for that, not to mention the entirety of the flat season.

However, as in racing as in life, times change and people change. The 2024 result hinted at a tidal overhaul, with I Am Maximus winning as a Grade 1 scorer that season, with two former Cheltenham Gold Cup favourites and a Gold Cup winner filling the frame. Yet, with Delta Work and Galvin both having moved into the Cross Country sphere and Minella Indo an 11-year-old already trending in the same direction, it still felt like a traditional Grand National result, at least in a similar way to Tiger Roll’s successes.

But 2025 was different. Here we had numbers 3, 1 and 4 on the racecard creating the tricast, all trained by the most dominant force in the sport. Nick Rockett may only have risen through handicaps, but is clearly an improving horse, while I Am Maximus and Grangeclare West had been running in Grade 1s all season. Only Royale Pagaille was carrying as much or more weight than that triumvirate, but it stopped none of them.

Now that the fences are slimmer and the field is classier, does the handicap nature of the race serve its purpose? With this year’s result, there have to be doubts, as Iroko, surely well ahead of his mark and potentially only just shy of Grade 1 quality, still left trailing by three top class horses conceding him weight.

Any horse of a lower quality trying to mix it with the big guns was swiftly left behind. More than anything, this may have been the cause of poor Celebre d’Allen’s demise. He was still disputing the lead, at the age of 13 and in the toughest race of his life, against horses who could compete in echelons far above his standing. This is with the greatest of respect to a genuine and admirable handicap chaser still performing at a high level in his teenage years.

Micheal Nolan should have pulled him up sooner. However, it is unhelpful and unnecessarily derisory, as has been called for in some quarters, to suggest he should serve a lengthy ban for his actions. A ban for certain, with the duty of care more paramount in the Grand National than ever, but come on. Here he is on his first National ride, his horse giving the performance of his career with two to jump, and only fading when better horses shifted gear; getting carried away is in a sportsperson’s nature, as well as a sports fan’s. 

Knowing that he was beaten after the penultimate fence, he should have noticed his mount’s distress. But this was not a black and white situation and Nolan does not deserve questions about his livelihood. He will have learned, as we should when looking at where the race goes next.

Limitations on the upper age of horses is unhelpful too. Three 11-year-olds made the places even in the new format National in 2024. It is simply that they were previously of a higher class, and in a race where the level of horse being declared will only rise further, the removal of the handicap will ensure the participants match the evolution of the race.

Maybe this will mean the field gets nowhere near the 34-runner maximum. Maybe some horses will fall by the wayside sooner, but is it a bad thing to dream and fall safely short? It’s better than what connections of Celebre d’Allen have now had to endure.

It is also a way of maintaining the face of the race without further plastic surgery. There is no way of making the fences any safer without finally diminishing the challenge to a level lower than a traditional chase at Ffos Las. 

The nature of physical alterations to the National is that they render any previous editions obsolete. At this point, only the changes to the course in 2024 matter. It will not register with the necessary middle ground audience that the changes in 2013 saw all 40 horses get to the Canal Turn. It will not factor in that the run off zones around every fence have invariably caused less carnage with loose horses.

To emphasise this point, a contact of mine was in touch with me in advance of the Grand National. She was a racing (and sporting) agnostic, knowing little of the sport and nothing of the race’s recent makeovers, to such an extent that she believed the race was still the same challenge as it was in Red Rum’s day. Imagine Becher’s Brook still being as it was then! And yet that is what some of our audience believe, because not everyone is watching past renewals on YouTube.

Ultimately, as is so often the case in racing, the communication has been too narrow. Any further foundation will be applied for a date not with destiny, but disaster. So let’s change what’s inside and move with the times.

It has been a wonderful handicap for nearly two centuries, but maybe the last two renewals have been irrational Nationals. Making it a Grade 1, the grandest of races, and rationality can resume. It may save lives, and it may even save the race.

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Fascinations & Irritations

Fascination – Broadway Boy

One of the most enjoyable visuals in any Grand National is seeing a horse bowl along from the front, galloping along with zest. Broadway Boy was the latest horse to bow his head and stride on, deciding to take the challenge on head first.

I am not an equine body language specialist, so forgive me if I have misread the situation. Yet, it is difficult to believe as he attacked his fences, sometimes boldly, sometimes lopsidedly, that the seven-year-old was not thoroughly enjoying himself.

Gusto would be an appropriate word to describe his style on Saturday. That is why his fall, out in front and gymnastic as it was, was so gut-wrenching. It was with great relief that racing wiped its brow when hearing the good news as to his wellbeing.

Irritation – Knee Jerk Reactionism

Racing is too afraid of the Grand National now. Knowing that it is the increasingly ageing face of our sport does not help when it comes to post-race reactions.

The good news for horse racing is that there was an element of hypocrisy when it came to the lightning quick reactions of animal welfare groups to jump on any heartbreak. Unfortunately, there are issues to address with our own response.

Knee-jerk reactions included that the National has served its purpose, that Nolan should be banned for life, that there should be even greater restrictions on runners’ eligibility. All of these belittle serious conversation about what should be done.

Tip for the Weekend

It’s been three weeks since we last had this section, but we had a winner, courtesy of Canal End over in Ireland. As ever, you’re welcome.

As such, we’re not going to throw one, but TWO darts at the Scottish National this weekend. That is because Brandt might not quite make the line-up for Cian Collins, as he is the last of the 33 confirmations, but it only takes three horses to drop out for this improving stayer to make the field. He finished off strongly to win the Dublin National at Leopardstown upped to 3m4f last time, promising that 4m would suit even better here and his mark is reasonable.

However, should he miss out, Your Own Story is exactly the type of stayer who could still make hay in this legitimate handicap. Lucinda Russell’s charge pushed an unexposed stablemate all the way at Kelso last time out and was runner-up at Punchestown over just shy of this trip last season. The nine-year-old comes good at this time of year and can be trusted to outstay the majority.

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