The 2026 Grand National Festival at Aintree kicked off on Thursday afternoon with all eyes on a pair of high-profile Grade 1 chases that have set the tone for a thrilling opening day. The Manifesto Novices' Chase at 2:20 PM and the Racing Welfare Bowl Chase have drawn some of the best young and established talent in the National Hunt scene, with trainers and punters alike eager to see how these stars fare after their Cheltenham exploits last month.
In the Manifesto Novices' Chase, the spotlight fell firmly on Lulamba, the five-year-old trained by Nicky Henderson and owned by Joe and Marie Donnelly. Henderson, never one to hide his ambitions, has described Lulamba as a "future Gold Cup horse"—high praise for a gelding still at the dawn of his chasing career. Lulamba had racked up three stylish victories over fences at the minimum two-mile distance before stepping up to 2 miles and 4 furlongs for the first time at Aintree. The decision to go further was not made lightly. After finishing a respectable third in the Arkle at Cheltenham, Henderson was convinced that the young chaser needed a longer trip to truly shine.
“If you compare two miles around Cheltenham and two and a half around Aintree, I’m not sure you can expect to find a huge difference as far as stamina is concerned,” Henderson explained to reporters before the race. “I would have been tempted to have a look at three miles, but for a five-year-old that is probably a bit much and there is plenty of time for that next year. It would be nice if he could get back to winning ways and finish the season on a high.”
Lulamba's journey to Aintree was not without its complications. Last year, he was a late absentee from the Merseyside action due to firm ground, and Henderson admitted to feeling a bit nervous about conditions this time around. “We kept him back for Punchestown when the ground was a bit quick last year, but there’s no option for him at Punchestown this year because there is no two-and-a-half-mile novice chase,” he noted. Despite these concerns, Henderson was optimistic: “He ran well at Cheltenham and is still a young horse who can only improve. In time the further he goes and the softer the ground, he could end up being a future Gold Cup horse.”
The field for the Manifesto Novices' Chase was small but select. Lulamba faced just five rivals, including Ben Pauling’s Mambonumberfive, Henry de Bromhead’s Koktail Divin, Lucy Wadham’s Jax Junior, and Paul Nicholls’ Blueking d’Oroux. Each brought their own credentials, but Lulamba was rated well ahead of the rest—if the race had been a handicap, he would have carried 12 pounds more than Koktail Divin and a whopping 19 pounds more than Blueking d’Oroux. Bookmakers took note, boosting Lulamba’s odds from 1/2 to 1/1 in the hours before the off, sparking a flurry of interest among punters.
Ben Pauling, trainer of Mambonumberfive, was candid about his own horse’s prospects after a disappointing run at Warwick in February. “I’m really looking forward to seeing how he gets on, I’ve always thought he wanted slightly further than two miles,” Pauling said. “He’ll handle the ground very well, we learned at Warwick he wasn’t in love with heavy ground at this stage of his career for such a heavy, young horse as he just got stuck in the mud. His schooling has been very good and he seems in good form with himself. Lulamba is going to be a very hard nut to crack but I think he’s in very good form and I can’t wait to have a go.”
Irish trainers have dominated recent editions of the Manifesto, but this year, de Bromhead’s Koktail Divin was the only challenger from across the Irish Sea, dropping back in distance after a sixth-place finish in the Brown Advisory at Cheltenham. The rest of the field, including Jax Junior and Blueking d’Oroux, rounded out a competitive lineup that promised a fascinating tactical battle.
While the Manifesto Novices' Chase showcased the stars of tomorrow, the Racing Welfare Bowl Chase was all about redemption and resilience at the top level. Jango Baie, another Nicky Henderson-trained runner, arrived at Aintree as the hot favourite, less than four weeks after chasing home Gaelic Warrior for second in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. The question on everyone’s mind: would the demands of the Gold Cup leave their mark, or could Jango Baie emulate Might Bite, Henderson’s 2018 Bowl winner who also finished second in the Gold Cup?
“There’s always an imponderable five or ten per cent,” Henderson admitted when asked about the challenge of bouncing back from Cheltenham. “Might Bite was second in a Gold Cup and then won this, so we’d better do the same again, hadn’t we?” he added with a laugh, though he was quick to note the differences in temperament between the two horses. “They couldn’t be more different. One was wicked, whereas this horse has a great temperament. He enjoys it and was very sharp when we schooled him the other day.”
Paul Nicholls, a master of preparing horses for the big occasion, emphasized the difficulty of reproducing Gold Cup form at Aintree. “It’s hard to come to Aintree and reproduce your form after having a hard race in the Gold Cup. It never worked for us,” Nicholls said. However, this year’s four-week gap between Cheltenham and Aintree, rather than the usual three, could be a key factor. Historical trends suggest that runners-up who get the extra week’s rest fare much better, with Exotic Dancer (2007), Might Bite (2018), and Gerri Colombe (2024) all winning the Bowl after four weeks off.
Jango Baie’s main rivals included Impaire Et Passe, Pic D'Orhy, Protektorat, and Spillane's Tower, each with their own stories and ambitions. Paul Townend, rider of Impaire Et Passe, remarked, “I was never happy on him at any stage in the Ryanair, and I suppose by pulling him up, at least you could say he didn’t have as hard a race as he could have. He loves Aintree too, which is always a big factor at this meeting.” Paul Nicholls described Pic D'Orhy as “fresh and well” after a career-best at Ascot, while Dan Skelton was bullish about Protektorat’s chances: “He’s getting older, but he doesn’t appear to be weakening in his ability. I think it’s interesting that we’re coming here fresh while a few of the others have been to Cheltenham. He’s done well at the track in the past, and won a Grade 1 here.”
As the action at Aintree continues, the performances of Lulamba and Jango Baie will be scrutinized closely—not just for their immediate results, but for what they might signal about the next generation of staying chasers and the enduring challenge of peaking twice in the spring. With so much talent on display and plenty of questions still to be answered, the opening day of the Grand National Festival has certainly lived up to its billing, keeping fans and connections alike on the edge of their seats.