I Am Maximus emulates Red Rum to seal status as Aintree great

Townend has now won the Gold Cup and National in the same season for a second time and had the choice of eight horses from the Mullins yard to ride.

“When they jumped off I got into a nice rhythm again, I still didn’t think he travelled with the enthusiasm of the first year, but I just thought the cheekpieces helped me in the middle part of the race,” he explained.

“I saw the horse in front [Jordans], I wasn’t going to be the one to go chasing them. I was able to get a lead to the Elbow and I didn’t know where the loose horse was going. He [I Am Maximus] is a really, really good horse, that’s why [I always believed in him]. Obviously, Grangeclare West’s preparation was really good in the Bobbyjo, but this lad wasn’t telling me not to ride him.”

In all, 16 horses finished the race. Robbie Dunne was taken to hospital after a heavy fall from Stellar Story, while three horses – Mr Vango, Top Of The Bill and Quai De Bourbon – were all taken back to the racecourse stables for further veterinary assessment after falls.

The winner will, doubtless, be paraded outside Mullins’s local, The Lord Bagenal, at some stage but do not expect it to last as long as the race.

Explaining the winner’s character, Mullins said: “Normally the horses come to the car park, we have an ice-cream van for the kids and people want their photographs taken with the horses.

“Galopin Des Champs was there for an hour and a half, Lossiemouth for two hours, but I Am Maximus… he ate about three babies and kicked about four pensioners. We had to load him and take him home after five minutes. That’s I Am Maximus, he’ll eat you without salt. He is a character – don’t stand in his way.”