Jockey Club announces move to 72-hour Grand National declarations

Runners will be declared 72 hours in advance of the 2026 Grand National.

The £1m Aintree feature is set to take place on Saturday 11th April this year with runners & riders set to be confirmed on Wednesday 8th April, 24 hours earlier than they've been made in previous editions.

Plans to move the declaration stage back by 24 hours mirror changes that the Jockey Club made to the 2025 Derby, giving more time to build-up to the biggest races held in the UK.

Similar protocols are in place for the most prestigious races all across the globe.

Aintree clerk of the course Sulekha Varma said: “We’re really pleased to be able to make the Randox Grand National a 72-hour declaration race, providing greater clarity for not only participants and racing stakeholders but also fans.

“The Jockey Club successfully introduced 72-hour declarations for the Derby at Epsom last year and, while the Grand National is now the only UK jumps race to implement this, it also brings us in line with other global races such as the Melbourne Cup and Kentucky Derby."

Alongside the announcement of a 72-hour declaration stage, Varma also unveiled a change that will see the number of reserves in the race increase from four to six.

Whilst the Grand National will continue to be staged at 4pm, racing now begins at 12:45pm on the day, 35 minutes earlier than it started last year.

"Our annual review following the 2023 Grand National resulted in the start time for the race moving to 4pm in order to reduce the time between any irrigation taking place and the race being run, and also to shorten the build-up to the race for participants", Varma continued.

“While this move has been well received for the Grand National itself, feedback we have received pointed to it not being ideal having a race of the stature of the Grade 1 Maghull Novices’ Chase following immediately afterwards.

"We have decided to make a small change to the running order, with the first race now taking place at 12.45pm with both Grade 1 races on the day being staged prior to the Grand National.

“As has been the case in previous years, moving forward the only race following the National will be the Grade 2 bumper, which starts at 5pm."

Iroko is the current 8/1 Grand National favourite after a solid effort in the 2025 edition, whilst last year's winner Nick Rockett is 25/1.

Any odds displayed were correct at the time of writing and are subject to fluctuation.