The race was won by Minella Times, trained by Henry de Bromhead and ridden by Rachael Blackmore, who became the first female jockey to win the Grand National.

[2] De Bromhead, who won the race as a trainer for the first time, also trained the second-place finisher Balko des Flos.

[4] Having been cancelled the year before due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 race and entire festival meeting took place behind closed doors for the first time in its history, because of continuing restrictions.

The meeting continued as scheduled, with tributes including a two-minute silence before racing, jockeys wearing black armbands on their silks as a mark of respect and the Union Jack on the Queen Mother Stand being lowered to half-mast.

The early favourite in ante-post betting was the 2018 and 2019 winner Tiger Roll,[7] but he was withdrawn before the first scratching stage by the Gigginstown House Stud, citing excessive weight allocation.

Any Second Now ran into trouble when Double Shuffle fell in front of him in the first half of the race, costing him several lengths.

Analysis was provided by former Grand National-winning jockeys Sir Anthony McCoy and Mick Fitzgerald, with Ruby Walsh also contributing via remote link from the course.

The commentary team was Mark Johnson, Ian Bartlett and Richard Hoiles, who called the finish for the fourth time.

[20] Because of the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on 9 April, coverage of the second day of the meeting was moved to ITV4, with no advertisement breaks or sponsorship bumpers.