On the morning of Saturday, April 11, 2026, Panic Attack, trained by Dan Skelton, was backed into 7/1 favourite for the Grand National after a week-long gamble that saw her odds shorten from 25/1 earlier in the week. At that point, Skelton said of her, “…she has a great temperament, she jumps well, she’ll handle the ground, she’ll handle the occasion beforehand. “
At the ‘off’, Panic Attack was eventually returned 7/1 second-favourite in the face of sustained support for the eventual winner, I Am Maximus. In any event, her attempt to become the first mare since Nickel Coin, trained by Jack O’Donoghue, in 1951 to win the Grand National was short-lived. In the hands of Harry Skelton, brother of Dan, Panic Attack was badly hampered by the fall of Quai De Bourbon at the second fence, before falling, of her own accord, at the third.
Prior to her Aintree mishap, Panic Attack had shown progressive form, notably completing the Paddy Power Gold Cup – Coral Gold Cup double on her first two starts of the 2025/26 season and rising 12lb in the weights as a result. She was turned over, at odds-on, by two lower-rated rivals in a Listed mares’ chase at Perth on her only start since the Grand National, but whether or not that defeat was sufficient to justify her seemingly-generous odds of 40/1 for the 2027 renewal in the ante-post lists is open to conjecture.
Panic Attack has a decent win-to-run ratio over fences, having won five of her 11 starts and has jumped around Cheltenham and Newbury without mishap, so her Aintree fall should not be held against her to the point of stigmatisation. She has actually dropped 2lb in the weights since the Grand National so, with winning form on going ranging from ‘good’ to ‘soft’, she must have a realistic chance of breaking the mares’ hoodoo in the Grand National.