Grand National 2025 – Can An Irish Horse Win?

With the Cheltenham Festival now over, lovers of horse racing are turning their attention to the next huge event of the year: the Grand National (arguably one of the biggest horse racing events in the world). However, for lovers of Irish horse racing, it’s natural to wonder whether this year’s Grand National winner could be an Irish-trained horse. Following this thought, today, we’re taking a look at whether the bookies think it’s likely an Irish horse will win the Grand National 2025 – but, in the end, it really is anyone’s race!

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Could an Irish-Trained Horse Win the Grand National 2025?

The chances of an Irish-trained horse winning aren’t necessarily easy to determine, given the huge number of horses entered in the Grand National. In fact, at present, there are well over sixty animals entered into the Grand National. Now, it’s likely that a good number of those will be non-runners when the event rolls around. Nevertheless, the sheer number of entrants make it incredibly hard to predict whether an Irish trained horse will win the Grand National.

Nevertheless, there’s a pretty good chance. Indeed, although not a strong favourite, the current pick of the pack is Intense Raffles, with odds of 15/2 (8.5), 6/1 (7.0), and 5/1 (6.0), at William Hill, Bet365 and BoyleSports, respectively. Trained by Thomas Gibney of County Meath, this particular favourite is no doubt flying the flag for Irish racing. And, as a former Irish Grand National winner, it’s safe to say that this amazing horse no doubt has the skills to pull off an Irish win for 2025.

I Am Maximus is another solid Irish contender, trained by the renowned Willie Mullins of County Carlow. And, of course, Stumptown’s not one to overlook, especially given his recent win at Cheltenham in the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase. Following them in the odds at present is also Vanillier, trained by Gavin Cromwell from County Meath.

In short: almost all of the current favourites are Irish trained. Since they make up a good number of the current favourites, the chances of an Irish Horse bringing home the prize certainly seems likely. Still, these are just a handful of the current entries, and it’s not uncommon for an outsider to fare well in the Grand National; in fact, the average odds for a Grand National winner over the last 30 or so years have been around 20/1.

With that all being said, there are a lot of incredible English-trained horses in the running, too. For example, second to the favourite is Iroko, owned by John McManus and trained by Cheshire-based duo, Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero from Greenall Guerriero Racing. Given this, the Irish contenders will no doubt have strong competition to come up against as well.

Final Thoughts

There’s no way to confidently say which horse will win the Grand National (or any race, for that matter). After all, even a clear favourite can have a bad day or a fall – and so, in the end, there’s potential for any horse to thrive on the big day.