A seven-year-old, with just six starts over fences to his name, Captain Cody is currently trading at
20/1 co-favourite of three for the Grand National, alongside stable companion I Am Maximus and Haiti Couleurs. Lightly raced over the larger obstacles he may be, but, having unseated rider towards the end of the first circuit in the National Hunt Chase at the 2025 Cheltenham Festival, he went on to win the Scottish Grand National at Ayr in cosy fashion on his final start of the season. That victory earned him a 10lb rise in the weights, but he made an entirely satisfactory reappearance when third, beaten 9½ lengths, in the Grade 1 Drinmore Novice Chase at Fairyhouse in November.
Ominously, perhaps, trainer Willie Mullins said afterwards, “Captain Cody could make into an Aintree horse or a horse for any of those big handicaps.” Mullins, of course, is chasing a hat-trick in Grand National after victories with I Am Maximus om 2024 and Nick Rockett in 2025 (when he saddled five of the first seven horses home), so it’s fair to say that he’s a better judge than most if what’s required to win the world-famous steeplechase.
Six of the last 10 Grand National winners, including the Mullins-trained pair, were eight-year-olds, so Captain Cody will be in the right age bracket, stats-wise, by the time the 2026 Grand National rolls around. His two wins over hurdles came on heavy going, but he handled good to soft going perfectly well when winning the Scottish Grand National, so should have underfoot conditions to suit at Aintree. Reflecting on his inevitable rise in the weights, owner Vincent Caldwell said, “…he’s a 150 horse now, and we can think and talk about races such as Aintree or those other big National races for next year.”
In the words of Mullins, Captain Cody “was travelling, and really travelling” at the finish of the Scottish Grand National, over four miles, so an extra quarter of a mile an Aintree could conceivably show him in an even better light. He has yet to reappear in the 2025/26 season, but looks one to keep on the right side, whatever connections decide for him.