The initial entry list for the 2026 Grand National dropped this week — 78 names jostling for 34 spots on April 11. Plenty of the usual suspects, a few outsiders with no chance, and a handful of genuinely fascinating stories buried in the form book.
Here are five entries the data says deserve your attention.
Panic Attack — The Mare Making History
Only 13 mares have ever won the Grand National. The last was Nickel Coin in 1951. Dan Skelton’s Panic Attack might be the best chance to end that 75-year drought.
Her recent form reads: 1-1-1 in three starts this season, including the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham (6/1) and the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury (16/1). Those aren’t mares’ races — she beat the boys in two of the most competitive handicap chases on the calendar.
Look at the trajectory. This time last year she was running in mares’ handicap hurdles at Ludlow and finishing third off a mark in the low 120s. Twelve months later she’s a dual big-handicap winner over fences. SmartForm shows she’s won four of her last five starts over fences with a combined winning distance of over 20 lengths. That’s not just good form — it’s dominance.
The stamina question is fair. Her furthest win came over 2m7f at Newbury in the Coral Gold Cup. Aintree’s four miles and two furlongs is a different beast entirely. But she travels, she jumps, and she has the class edge over most of this field.
Haiti Couleurs — The Triple National Threat
Rebecca Curtis’s nine-year-old is attempting something that hasn’t been done since Earth Summit in 1998: win three different Nationals.
He’s already got two. The National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham last March (admittedly a novice race, but still 3m6f around Prestbury Park). Then the Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse in April, staying on relentlessly at 13/2. And in December, the Welsh Grand National at Chepstow under a big weight.
SmartForm shows Haiti Couleurs has five wins from his last seven completed starts, with a perfect record at trips of 3m+ over fences. His only two defeats in that run came at Haydock (unseated in the Betfair Chase — wrong race, wrong trip) and a hurdles outing at Newbury.
He’s been freshened up with a Grade 2 win in the Denman Chase at Newbury on February 7, beating a decent field at 5/6. Curtis knows what she’s doing — this horse is being aimed at Aintree with everything going right.
Iroko — The One That Got Away
The ante-post favourite at 7/1, and for good reason. Iroko finished fourth in last year’s National, staying on from what looked like an impossible position. The in-running comments suggested he was ridden too far back, which is either a worry or an opportunity depending on your perspective.
Since then: a wind operation, a good second behind The Jukebox Man at Haydock, and a win at Ascot over 2m3f in December. He’s clearly in better shape this season.
What catches the eye in SmartForm is his Aintree record. He was second in the Grade 1 Mildmay Novices’ Chase there in April 2024, then fourth in the National itself a year later. Two starts at Aintree, two placed efforts. The track suits him — he’s a low, economical jumper who handles the unique fences well.
I Am Maximus — Weight vs. Class
The 2024 winner and 2025 runner-up brings the best CV in the race. But he’ll carry top weight or close to it, and his form since last year’s gallant second is mixed.
SmartForm tells the story: ninth of nine in the John Durkan at Punchestown, a distant fifth in the Irish Gold Cup. His Savills Chase second on December 28 was more encouraging (50/1 — nobody saw it coming), but the question marks over his current form are real.
Still, this horse has finished first and second in the last two Nationals. He clearly loves Aintree. He clearly stays. And Paul Townend knows him inside out. Writing him off would be foolish — but he might be one to watch rather than back at 10/1.
Oscars Brother — The Wildcard
The least exposed horse on this list, Connor King’s eight-year-old was snapped up by JP McManus after winning the Ten Up Novice Chase at Navan. He’s rapidly improving, low in the handicap relative to his potential, and trained by a 29-year-old from a two-horse stable.
It’s the kind of story the Grand National was made for. Whether he takes in the Brown Advisory at Cheltenham first will tell us a lot about where connections think his ceiling is.
The entries will be whittled down over the coming weeks. The final declarations come in early April. Between now and then, watch for the trials — particularly who runs at Cheltenham and who is saved specifically for Aintree. In this race, freshness matters as much as form.