Willie Mullins & JP McManus can taste Aintree Grand National success with this 33/1 shot

Last year’s Grand National winner I Am Maximus must emulate Red Rum to win the Aintree feature again and it’s a huge ask, but JP McManus won’t mind as he has an army of horses to go to war with, including Inothewayurthinkin, Iroko and Meetingofthewaters. So, which one might have the best chance at the weights?

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33/1 Grand National Tip

The one that looks way overpriced is Meetingofthewaters, who will carry just 10st 7lb, which is 1lb lower than the weight he carried in the race last year. The son of Court Cave won the Paddy Power Chase at Leopardstown’s Christmas festival last season before going on to finish third in the Ultima at the Cheltenham Festival.

Although I Am Maximus was sent off joint-favourite for the Grand National sporting the same McManus colours, Meetingofthewaters wasn’t without support for the contest and was sent off at odds of 11/1.

He travelled strongly throughout sitting in mid-division and although he made a bad mistake four out, he was tanking along on the outside and hit a low in-running of 3.7 on the Betfair exchanges.

Sadly, he was unable to sustain his effort once they reached the Elbow and eventually finished seventh, beaten around 16 lengths, but it was a cracking effort and there’s no reason why he can’t at least hit the frame again this year from the weight he was allocated.

Sent off a heavily backed 2/1 favourite for a Listed handicap hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival, he couldn’t take advantage of a penalty kick off just 112 over timber, but he’s not to be discounted back over fences, particularly if the ground is on the soft or heavy side.

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