Historic 1-2-3 for Mullins in Grand National

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Aintree Racecourse
Aintree Racecourse (Credit CharlesFred via Flickr)

With 113 Cheltenham Festival wins to his name, 18 Irish Champion Trainer titles, and the holder of the World Record for the most Grade 1 victories in a season, there aren’t too many things that Willie Mullin hasn’t achieved during the most remarkable of careers.

Given all that has gone before, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Mullins to top his previous efforts – even his recent 10 wins at the Cheltenham Festival failed to raise an eyebrow. However, it is a testament to his talents that the master of Closutton continues to post genuinely jaw-dropping results.

One such moment came at the end of the 2023/24 jumps campaign when Mullins became the first trainer based in Ireland to win the British Trainers Championship in over 70 years. Another came at Aintree on Saturday, 5th of April, 2025.

The Grandest of Achievements


In sending out six of the 34-runner field, Mullins had a better chance than most of winning the 2025 Randox Grand National. However, with those runners priced between 7/1 and 33/1, he couldn’t be said to boast overwhelming claims.

However, in the end, Mullins didn’t just win the race – he utterly dominated it. When all was said and done at the end of the 4m2½f marathon, five of the six Mullins runners finished inside the first seven positions, including the first three, Nick Rockett, I Am Maximus and Grangeclare West.

If saddling the first three home in the biggest race of the British season sounds like an impressive feat, that’s because it very much is. So impressive, in fact, that no trainer had ever done it before. There have been 1-2s in the past, but never before a 1-2-3.

Result Reduces Trainer to Tears


Whether in the winning enclosure at Cheltenham, Punchestown, Aintree, or elsewhere, Willie Mullins is rarely anything other than a picture of calm in his post-race interviews. Things were a little different this time.

When initially approached to sum up his achievement, Mullins managed only a few short lines before the brim of that hat was lowered, as the emotion took over his usually relaxed demeanour.

No Ordinary Victory


If we look at the others involved in Nick Rockett’s success, it soon becomes clear why this victory meant more than most. Firstly, we have the man in the saddle – none other than Willie’s only child, Patrick Mullins. With voice cracking, Willie hinted at his overwhelming pride in this success when stating, “To win the National is one thing, but to be able to leg your son up and for him to ride the winner is off the charts.”

For Patrick, this was the fulfilment of a lifelong ambition, with the 35-year-old rider reflecting:

I’ve dreamt about it and thought about it plenty. My mother tells me I read books about it when I was six or seven – and two of my cousins have won it. The most important thing was to get equal with them.

Only the seventh amateur rider to claim Grand National glory, this result added to a spectacular year for Mullins, who landed the Grade 1 Aintree Bowl on Day 1 at this meeting and was crowned Horse Racing Writer of the Year earlier in 2025…a man of many talents.

Triumph from Tragedy for Owners

If the man in the saddle alone didn’t bring a tear to Mullins’ eye, the owners of the horse may have been enough to tip him over the edge. Nick Rockett carried the colours of Stewart and Sadie Andrew. The Sadie of that partnership being a childhood friend of Mullins, who attended the same school and completed her Holy Communion with the handler.

In search of a horse to compete in the National, Sadie contacted Mullins to source a suitable contender. That horse was Nick Rockett. Sadly, Sadie saw the star compete only once at the track – finishing a promising fourth in a bumper back in 2022 – before succumbing to cancer in December of that year.

The Grand National has a habit of producing memorable results, but by any standards, the 2025 edition produced a storyline to live long in the memory. Willie Mullins himself summed it up best when regathering his composure to state, “I don’t think anything can be better than this.” He may well be right.