Rockett ready for LAUNCH

BUT NO GOLD CUP RUN FOR AINTREE STAR

- By CHRIS WRIGHT

Grand National winner Nick Rockett, runner-up I Am Maximus and third Grangeclare West on a visit to Willie Mullins' Closutton yard in Bagenalstown, County Carlow

WILLIE Mullins is starting again on the road to create more history in the Randox Grand National - as he revealed last year’s winner Nick Rockett is unlikely to bid for Cheltenham Gold Cup glory before defending his crown back at Aintree Racecourse next April.

The County Carlow handler saddled a unique one-two-three in the Aintree showpiece on a glorious, sunny afternoon in April this year. Nick Rockett - under Mullins’ son and assistant Patrick - beat the stable’s 2024 National hero I Am Maximus with Grangeclare West third.

It was a third win in the world’s greatest steeplechase for the 69-year-old - 20 years on from his first success with Hedgehunter - and also helped propel Mullins to win the British and Irish trainers’ championship double for a second successive year.