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• Maximus respect for Grand National hero at homecoming parade

  It is likely to be the Cheltenham Gold Cup rather than a Grand National repeat that is on the agenda for I Am Maximus next season, as Willie Mullins sees his Aintree hero as the perfect candidate for the Cheltenham Festival blue riband.

  It is barely a month since Galopin Des Champs enjoyed receiving the adulation of the locals after providing the master of Closutton with his fourth Gold Cup triumph and I Am Maximus appears set to be trained with the Cotswolds in mind as it was his turn to be paraded through the streets of Leighlinbridge in County Carlow on Tuesday evening.

  The eight-year-old was sent off the 7-1 joint favourite for the Aintree showpiece after impressing in the Bobbyjo Chase in February and provided the perennial Irish champion with his second victory in the world’s most famous steeplechase, 19 years after he triumphed with Hedgehunter in 2005.

  However, it may have to be one of his stablemates who bids to mark the 20th anniversary of that first National success with another win in Liverpool, as I Am Maximus is set to join Mullins’ swelling Gold Cup hand that includes the likes of dual winner Galopin Des Champs and high-class novice Fact To File.

  “I Am Maximus is definitely a Gold Cup horse and I couldn’t see much point in going back to Aintree again,” said Mullins.

  “I’ll be training him for the Gold Cup anyway.”

  Mullins also gave his seal of approval to the array of alterations to the Merseyside race, which led to no fallers and the highest number of finishers since 2005 – with all of the handler’s eight-strong team leaving Aintree unscathed.

  “We live in different times and nothing stays the same, everything changes,” continued Mullins.

  “When you go back many years ago, the National was dead on its feet and Aintree was going to be sold and it was saved.

  “You have to change and go with the present day. Today, we have a £1million National and there was a huge amount of people going to Aintree over the three days and it was special what they did – and there will be the odd tweaks and turns every now and then.”

  I Am Maximus was given a masterful ride by Paul Townend, who became the first man in 94 years to win the Champion Hurdle, Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand National in the same season.

  However, the son of Authorized’s seven-and-a-half-length romp over Delta Work also put Mullins in pole position to create his own piece of history and become the first Irish-based handler since the great Vincent O’Brien in the 1950s to claim the UK jumps trainers’ championship.

  The 67-year-old has got a multitude of entries for Ayr’s two-day Scottish Grand National meeting, as he attempts to beat Dan Skelton and Paul Nicholls to the title, and is set to be mob-handed in the £200,000 feature after confirming a possible six runners for the four-mile marathon.

  “It’s never been an ambition because one does not have those ambitions, they are not real,” he said of his tittle bid.

  “We find ourselves in this position and hopefully we will go close and I suppose now that we are so near, you want it more when you are so near.

  “We’ve done lots of entries and I would say Mr Incredible will run and Macdermott will run in the big one at Ayr and hopefully we will have two or three to go with them.

  “At this point in time, we’ve just got plenty of entries and we will see how the horses are during the week before we send them on their way.”

• Daryl Jacob finished for the season due to injury

  Daryl Jacob will not return to action for the end of the jumps season as he continues to recover from a broken collarbone.

  The jockey, who is one of the most experienced in the weighing room, fell along with Henry Daly’s Moon Hunter in late March and incurred the injury.

  He has since had to sit out as horses owned by Simon Munir and Isaac Souede, to whom he is a retained rider, have gone on to win in his absence.

  That absence will last a little longer than initially thought and Jacob will not be able to return to the saddle before the season is out.

  He told sportinglife.com: “Because of the nature of the break, and where it is, I need to go back (to the specialist) again in three weeks.

  “The injury is healing but is going to take a little longer than I originally hoped.

  “I’ve been working hard in the gym to try and get ready but now I need to have a quiet week and then get going again.

  “It’s frustrating but I’m going to give it all the time it needs and will be raring to go once I’ve been given the green light.”

• Astro King bidding to reign supreme in Earl Of Sefton

  Last season’s Cambridgeshire hero Astro King returns to headquarters to contest the bet365 Earl Of Sefton Stakes at Newmarket on Wednesday.

  The seven-year-old enjoyed a hugely productive 2023 campaign for Daniel and Claire Kubler, with a nose defeat in the John Smith’s Cup followed by lucrative wins back at York and on the Rowley Mile.

  Astro King has since enjoyed winter trips to the Middle East, running with credit in both the Bahrain International Trophy and the Neom Turf Cup in Saudi Arabia, and connections are looking forward to seeing him return to competitive action on home soil.

  Claire Kubler said: “It’s obviously the same course and distance as the Cambridgeshire and it will be nice to get him back there, he’s in good form.

  “It was a big ask to travel abroad, but he ran a great race in Bahrain, he was just a bit unlucky with the draw and got stuck against the rail. There was lots of promise there and we’re looking forward to another good campaign with him this year.

  “It will be interesting to see how he runs, I just wonder what the ground will be like. The way it’s drying out, it might just be a bit holding, which is not ideal, but we’ll see how it goes.”

  Karl Burke has declared Royal Rhyme to make his first appearance since finishing fifth in last season’s Qipco Champion Stakes, but his participation is far from certain due to the drying ground.

  “He’s in good shape, but I’d be a bit worried about the ground and if we’re not happy with it, he’s a possible non-runner,” said the Spigot Lodge handler.

  “If it goes on the firm side, he definitely wouldn’t run and really, to be at his best, he wants a bit of soft ground.”

  Charlie Appleby and William Buick have teamed up to win the last two renewals of the Earl Of Sefton, with Master Of The Seas and Ottoman Fleet, and the latter returns to headquarters to defend his crown.

  The five-year-old has enjoyed a productive winter campaign in Dubai, placing at Group Two and Group One level before failing to fire in the Group Two Singspiel Stakes on his most recent start in February.

  “Ottoman Fleet put up a couple of decent runs in Dubai and we gave him a nice break since he disappointed slightly in the Singspiel Stakes,” Appleby said on the Godolphin website.

  “He has freshened up again and we know that he runs well at the track. Some ease in the ground won’t do him any harm.”

  Other contenders include Roger Varian’s Embesto, who dead-heated for victory in the Group Three Sovereign Stakes at Salisbury last summer, and Sir Michael Stoute’s admirable veteran Regal Reality.

  Ryan Moore, who rides Regal Reality, told Betfair: “He has run some good races when fresh in the past and hopefully the ground remains decent for him, though he has winning form with a bit of dig, too.

  “As a nine-year-old, he has to give a few years to all of his rivals and he would be vulnerable to an improver like Royal Rhyme, but he has run some very good races on this track, including when a narrow second in the Joel Stakes here in September. He is among the form horses here on that run.”