2024 Grand National Review

The 2024 renewal of the Grand National saw three days of enthralling racing take place at the iconic and historic Aintree Racecourse.

Three days of fantastic horse racing took place when the 2024 renewal of the Grand National came to the historic Aintree Racecourse from Thursday 11th to Saturday 13th April 2024. Several iconic races took place, but the standout, just like every year at this event, was the latest running of the highly prestigious Randox Grand National Chase that takes place on the final day each year.

Each day saw no less than seven races take place, from the Close Brothers Manifesto Novices’ Chase that opened the action to the  Weatherbys nhstallions.co.uk Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race that brought the action to a close.

Corach Rambler was looking to become the first horse since Tiger Roll to win consecutive Grand Nationals. Whilst Tiger Roll has two wins, the record holder for wins in this race remains Red Rum, who won this race a total of three times – these victories came in 1973, 1974, and 1977. Brian Fletcher was the Jockey for the first two wins, whilst it was Tommy Stack who rode Red Rum for the third and final win.

Of course, whilst the Randox Grand National is the standout race of this festival, there were plenty of other races for horse racing fans from across the globe to enjoy. Here, we are going to review all of the action from the three enthralling days enjoyed by so many at Aintree.

Day One

As mentioned earlier, it was the Close Brothers Manifesto Novices’ Chase that opened proceedings for this year’s Grand National at Aintree. The winner of the very first race was Paul Townend’s Il Etait Temps, who managed to fend off competition from runner-up Ginny’s Destiny and pre-race favourite Grey Dawning, who came in third overall.

Jockey Nico de Boinville managed to ride pre-race favourite Sir Gino to victory in the Boodles Anniversary 4-Year-Old Juvenile Hurdle, beating Kargese and Kalif Du Berlais to the win.

The third race that took place on the opening day of the festival was of course the William Hill Bowl Chase. This particular race saw the pre-race favourite emerge victorious once again, with Gerri Colombe emerging victorious ahead of Ahoy Senor in second and Corbetts Cross, who had to settle for third place in the end.

Race number four on Thursday 11th April was another pre-race favourite in the form of Impaire Et Passe, who was ridden to victory in the William Hill Aintree Hurdle by Paul Townend in what was his and Trainer Willie Mullins’ second victory of the day. Bob Olinger and Langer Dan rounded off the race’s top three.

The Randox Foxhunters’ Open Hunters’ Chase came next, with the fifth race seeing the pre-race favourite coming out on top again, with Jockey Derek O’Connor winning on this occasion ahead of Bennys King and Annamix.

Following O’Connor’s triumph, the penultimate race of the opening day then arrived in the form of the 2024 Close Brothers Red Rum Handicap Chase. This time, the pre-race favourite, in this case, Saint Roi, came second with Bryony Frost riding Sans Bruit to victory on this occasion. Keith Donoghue’s Path D’oroux came in third.

The race that rounded off the action for the first day of action at Aintree was the Goffs Nickel Coin Mares’ Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race. Diva Luna, ridden by Kielan Woods and trained by Ben Pauling won the race ahead of Jubilee Alpha and La Marquise, who ended up finishing second and third place respectively.

Now that we have reviewed all of the action from the seven races on the opening day of the Aintree Grand National, we will now look at the action from the further seven races that took place throughout Friday 12th April 2024. We will start with the 2024 renewal of the Huyton Asphalt Franny Blennerhassett Memorial Mildmay Novices’ Chase.

Day Two

As just mentioned the second and penultimate day of the 2024 Grand National at Aintree Racecourse was the latest running of the Huyton Asphalt Franny Blennerhassett Memorial Mildmay Novices’ Chase. This was won by the pre-race favourite Inothewayurthinkin, who was ridden to victory by Jockey Mark Walsh. Iroko and Heart Wood followed, finishing second and third.

Then came the William Hill Handicap Hurdle – the second race of the second day. This time it was Harry Skelton’s Kateira who came out on top following competition from Jango Baie, Inthewaterside, and What’s Up Darling who filled the other three spots in the top four of this race.

Following this race, then came the TrustATrader Top Novices’ Hurdle, which was won by pre-race favourite Mark Walsh on board Mystical Power in what was his second win in three races on the second day of racing. Firefox and Lookaway came in second and third.

Race Four was this year’s renewal of the My Pension Expert Melling Chase. This was an enthralling and tense race that was eventually won by pre-race favourite Jonbon (ridden by Nico de Boinville) followed by Conflated in second and Protektorat in third.

Then came the third to last race of the day, which was to be the Randox Supports Race Against Dementia Topham Handicap Chase. In the end, James Du Berlais (2nd Place), Kandoo Kid (3rd Place), and Celebre D’Allen (4th) came behind the eventual race winner Arizona Cardinal, who was ridden to victory by Jockey Ciaran Gethings.

The sixth race of the day was the Cavani Sartorial Menswear Sefton Novices’ Hurdle, which also happened to be the penultimate race of day two. Pre-race favourite The Jukebox Man ended up with a second place finish, with Paul Townend victorious on the day on board Dancing City. This was his third Grand National win in two days alongside highly acclaimed trainer Willie Mullins.

Finally, the race that rounded off the action for the second and penultimate race of the 2024 Grand National at Aintree was this year’s renewal of the Alder Hey Handicap Hurdle. With the pre-race favourite, Go Dante, coming in fifth place, it was Ben Smith on board El Jefe who won this race ahead of Callum Pritchard’s Ballee, Freddie Gingell, and Harry Atkins’ Lively Citizen in second, third, and fourth place respectively.

Now that day two has been reviewed, let’s move on to the review of the action from the third and final day of the 2024 Grand National, which saw the highly prestigious Randox Grand National Chase take place at the equally historic and prestigious Aintree Racecourse.

We will start the review of the final day with the 2024 renewal of the William Hill Handicap Hurdle.

Day Three

As mentioned, we begin the review of day three with the latest running of the William Hill Handicap Hurdle at Aintree. Charlie Todd’s Gwennie May Boy came out on top in first place, followed by Lord Snootie in second, pre-race favourite West Balboa in third, and Johnnywho in fourth place.

The Turners Mersey Novices’ Hurdle then followed, and this time the pre-race favourite won the race, and on this occasion, it was Jack Kennedy’s favoured Brighterdaysahead who won after fending off some stern competition from Sam Ewing’s Staffordshire Knot and Sean Bowen’s Bugise Seagull.

Race three on day three was the 2024 edition of the William Hill Handicap Chase, which, in the end, was won by Cruz Control, ridden by Stan Shepphard. Sam Brown and Ben Godfrey’s Forward Plan had to settle for a second and third place finish respectively.

The 2024 JRL Group Liverpool Hurdle then followed with Sean Bowen’s Strong Leader winning this enthralling race ahead of competition from runner-up Buddy One and Hiddenvalley Lake who rounded off the top three in third place.

The main event then came in the form of the 2024 renewal of the Randox Grand National Handicap Chase at Aintree Racecourse. It was I Am Maximus who took home the win in the most prestigious race of the entire festival in what was an eventful and exciting race. After Paul Townend’s horse came runner-up Delta Work in second place followed by Minella Indo in third and fourth placed Galvin.

Next up was the penultimate race of the entire 2024 Grand National – the My Pension Expert Maghull Novices’ Chase. On this occasion, it was to be pre-race favourite Found A Fifty who would come out on top ahead of Master Chewy in second place, with Libberty Hunter coming in third.

Finally, the Weatherbys nhstallions.co.uk Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race – the final race of the Grand National Festival of racing at Aintree. Pre-race favourite Mister Meggit, ridden by Jockey Jonjo O’Neill Jr, underperformed in this race, finishing in fourteenth place. Instead, it was Connor Brace’s Horaces Pearl who came first, ending up ahead of runner-up Tripoli Flyer (Paddy Brennan) and Good And Clever (James Bowen).

Excitement and anticipation are building rapidly ahead of the 2025 Grand National at Aintree Racecourse, which is set to take place from Thursday 10th to Saturday 12th April 2025.

There is no better way to enjoy world-class horse racing at the 2025 Grand National than with an Eventmasters VIP Hospitality Package. Book now to avoid disappointment.