Grand National Entries 2026 - 78 horses feature for Aintree showpiece including last two winners

78 horses for been entered for the Grand National at Aintree on Saturday 11 April 2026. This marks a significant downturn in the number of horses entered for the big event, with it being 12 lower than the 90 entered for 2025 and 16 below the figure of 94 in 2024.

However, the entries do feature the last two winners of the race as both I Am Maximus and Nick Rockett feature among the total. The pair filled the first two places in last season’s running, with Nick Rockett narrowly getting the better of his stablemate’s bid for back-to-back Grand Nationals, ensuring a father-son victory for trainer Willie Mullins and jockey Patrick Mullins.

Mullins’ Cloustton yard is responsible for nearly one fifth of this year’s Grand National entries, as 15 hail from his Irish base in all. Other big names entered by the champion trainer include Scottish Grand National hero Captain Cody, last year’s third Grangeclare West and 2025 Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase winner Lecky Watson. Multiple Grade 1 victor Impaire Et Passe is a surprise name among his entries too.

Gordon Elliott is only slightly behind Mullins in his total of entries, having made a dozen in all, though this is a smaller entry than he has made in past seasons too, totalling just 50% of the number he made in 2024 (24). Nevertheless, he could boast a strong hand too, with his more prominent entries including former Gold Cup runner-up Gerri Colombe, Brown Advisory runner-up Stellar Story and recent easy cross-country winner Favori De Champdou.

In all, Irish trainers hold sway among the entries with 49 compared to 29 made by the home team. That said, a British yard hosts the current Grand National favourite in Iroko, owned by JP McManus and trained by Oliver Greenall & Josh Guerriero. The eight-year-old was fourth in 2025 and has been campaigned with the race in mind, while the same connections are also responsible for Jagwar, who has also been given an entry to potentially step up significantly in distance.

Further names of note are Irish and Welsh Grand National winner Haiti Couleurs, who could fall back on an entry here were he to miss the Cheltenham Gold Cup, while Dan Skelton, whose quest for a first British trainers’ title could well hinge on results going his way at Aintree, has three Grand National entries in Deafening Silence, Grey Dawning and Coral Gold Cup winner Panic Attack.

2026 Grand National Entries