Fitzwilliam Sports owner Paul Byrne has insisted the £100,000 (€115,000) wager his firm took on I Am Maximus to win the Randox Grand National at Aintree on Saturday was a “real bet” and not a publicity stunt. Well-known pundit and personality Johnny Dineen was fronting the Fitzwilliam pitch and told the Press Association at the time: “It’s the biggest bet we’ve ever taken, £100,000 at 8-1. Someone wanted to back the horse – 8-1 was freely available, there was 9-1 in places and I thought it was an opportunity to get the bet away. “I thought there was a way to trade your way out of the bet. “When we took the bet there was a little over 10-1 available on the exchanges for a couple of thousand a box.

Source: Irish Examiner April 12, 2026 13:47 UTC