Yorkshire-born owner Stewart Andrew hails unbelievable Grand National win by Nick Rockett

Nick Rockett led home an incredible one-two-three for Willie Mullins at Aintree. Ridden by the trainer’s son, Patrick, the 33-1 shot proved too strong for stablemate and defending champion I Am Maximus in the four-and-a-quarter-mile showpiece.

Grangeclare West took third to round out a clean sweep of the podium places for the Closutton team. He also took fifth spot with Meetingofthewaters.

The result left winning owner Andrew close to tears, the horse having originally being owned by his wife Sadie, who sadly lost her battle with cancer back in December 2022.

“This a class horse, he’s got the heart of a lion,” said Andrew. “From a personal point of view, I can’t tell you.

“Sadie would have loved today – she was up there, she’ll have had a tenner each-way, I guarantee you.

“What a ride from Patrick, what a ride. I knew if we got to the front jumping the last, this horse is tough. If you look at this form, when he’s jumped the last, he keeps finding. I can’t believe it.”

Mullins was an old school friend of Andrew's late wife, who died just days after watching Nick Rockett run in his first race.

“We went to school together when we were five or six years of age,” explained Mullins.

“I hadn’t seen her then for years, but then one day I met her at Cheltenham and she said she’d get a horse with her husband and sent it to me and it turned out to be Nick Rockett.

“Poor Sadie then got diagnosed (with cancer) but the excitement Stewart is getting from this is brilliant.”

On the remarkable achievement of training four of the first five horses home, Mullins – who was emulating Ted Walsh and Tommy Carberry in winning with the National with his son – added: “You couldn’t write the script today – four of the first five.

“When Patrick was born, I said if he gets one or two rides in the National he’s done well. Then he did a bit more than that, but then we started to think could we get a horse with enough weight to give him a chance in the National – but we never dreamt of winning it.

“Watching it all come together – I watched it in JP’s (McManus) box and I was just doing my best to breathe. Patrick was in a fantastic position but then I saw two or three of our other runners come there with a chance.

“When they came to the elbow, I honestly thought I Am Maximus was coming to beat him. But then when Patrick got him on the rail and kept squeezing, he began to pull away again.

“This is the summit for me, I don’t think it can get any better than this. Now I now how Ted Walsh felt, I never thought I’d have that feeling, but here we are. This is the best day ever, this will never be topped.”

Connections gave a positive update on the well-being of Celebre d’Allen on Sunday, after Philip Hobbs and Johnson White’s National contender.

The 13-year-old was sent off at 125-1 under Micheal Nolan and was pulled up after the final fence before then collapsing on the racecourse, later being kept for observation at Aintree overnight.

“He’s had his stay at Aintree and I’ve seen videos of him this morning looking much brighter in himself and he’s been out for a pick of grass,” said White.

Elsewhere, Broadway Boy made his way home to his Gloucestershire stable on Sunday after also staying at Aintree overnight following his fall.

The Nigel Twiston Davies-trained seven-year-old received treatment on course following his heavy fall at the second Valentine’s.

Willy Twiston-Davies, assistant to his father, said: “There’s going to be a couple of weeks of uncertainty for future racing.

“But it certainly looks a lot more positive than it did yesterday, our horse is coming home and should be okay.”