British horse racing is riding the crest of a wave at present. The 2025 national hunt season is well and truly at its apex, with the recently concluded Cheltenham Festival still fresh in the mind and Liverpool’s own Grand National just around the corner. The gruelling race is without question the biggest on the calendar in the UK, and the Aintree April 5th date is fast approaching.
Over the years, horses have shone firstly in Gloucestershire before heading to Merseyside on the hunt for glory. 2025 however won’t be the same.
Gold Cup King Inothewayurthinkin Pulled From Grand National
At Cheltenham, all the talk was surrounding Galopin Des Champs and his bid to cement his name in the history books by completing a historic hat trick of Gold Cup triumphs. Unfortunately for him and much to the shock of the 60,000 fans in attendance, the French horse was shockingly beaten by JP McManus’ Inothewayurthinkin.
Following his triumph, his Grand National odds were slashed down to a mightily short 5/2. But with punters bracing themselves for a famous back-to-back triumph, McManus announced that his prize runner wouldn’t be competing at Aintree.
Now, the race is a wide open one. In the Gold Cup winner’s absence, websites allowing one to place a horse racing bet make Intense Raffles the 5/1 frontrunners, with Iroko and I Am Maximums narrowly behind at 6/1 and 7/1 respectively.
But racing fans have certainly been robbed of the opportunity of seeing Inothewayurthinkin attempt to make history of his own. Had he run at Aintree, he would have been looking to follow in the footsteps of these two. Here are two horses that impressed at Cheltenham before reigning supreme in the National.
•Inothewayurthinkin’s absence
• The current market for the race
• Trial Winners missing the raceWith less than two weeks to go until the Grand National, the team discuss the key talking points! #ITVRacing | #GrandNational pic.twitter.com/T1JEwDKenO
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) March 23, 2025
Golden Miller
Golden Miller didn’t just make a statement in 1934; he detonated a racing-sized bomb. This was a horse that already had two Cheltenham Gold Cup wins under his saddle when his team turned their crosshairs on the Grand National. A double like that? It’s racing’s version of a slam dunk.
The skeptics? They were out in full force. “Too small,” they said. “Not built for Aintree’s beast of a course,” they said. But Golden Miller had other ideas.
Gerry Wilson sat aboard the gutsy gelding, guiding him through 30 monstrous jumps on a course that eats weaker horses for breakfast. And when the dust settled, there was no denying it. Golden Miller owned 1934, becoming the only horse in history to win both the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National in the same year. Almost a hundred years later, no one has come close to matching that feat.
L’Escargot
The name means “The Snail,” but this Irish-bred star raced like a thoroughbred freight train when it mattered most. L’Escargot wasn’t just good; he was gritty. By 1970, he had already stamped his authority on Cheltenham by winning his first Gold Cup. The next year? Another Gold Cup. Back-to-back wins are the kind of sustained dominance that locks you into jump racing folklore.
But Aintree? That stage had eluded him. Until 1975.
Facing the ultimate challenge of dethroning the rampant Red Rum, L’Escargot set about the task at hand. The stakes couldn’t be higher. Jockey Tommy Carberry rode like a man on a mission. What unfolded was a masterclass in power and poise. L’Escargot stormed the 4½-mile course, crushed the heavy going, and demolished Red Rum’s bid for a third straight win by an emphatic 15 lengths.