The Aintree Grand National takes centre stage on Saturday the 9th of April and the flag is set to fall at 5.15pm. Make sure you check out our Aintree Festival tips each and every day of the meeting. Here is Adrian Wall with 10 things to consider when trying to find the winner of the big race.
If you aren’t too familiar with horse racing but like many love to have a bet on the race, reading basic form can be a help. You can read our race cards on the day which should be a way to help you. The form of a horse reads from left to right, the right being most recent. If you see a horse with form figures 21PF05, it means the horse finished second, first, pulled up, fell, not in the first nine and fifth in its last six starts.
Plenty of rain is forecast in the Liverpool area this week and with about 10mm of rain forecast for Friday alone, there is every chance it could be a mud bath on Saturday. If the ground does turn out to be heavy, then it is important to find out what horses have proven form on that ground. Plenty of horses hate the mud and you can easily erase up to half the field just factoring this in alone.
A lot of punters out there like to go with a horse at the head of the betting. No matter what horse is favourite, some will like to just back that runner. It is important to make sure you understand how much you will get back when you place a bet. If the favourite is 6-1 and you put £10 win on it, you will be returned £70 if the horse wins. Other punters would prefer to back a horse each-way at much larger odds. Shop around for places as some bookmakers will have great enhancements.
If you followed the “up and coming” and bang in form rider last year, you probably would have found the winner. Rachael Blackmore had a fantastic Cheltenham Festival last season and followed that up with a win in this race aboard Minella Times. Having plenty of big-race experience is important and having form around these fences can also be a help. If it interests you, check out Sam Waley-Cohen’s record over these fences.
Some trainers excel in these big races and many people will like to follow them. Gordon Elliott in particular is likely to have a very strong hand in the race with multiple runners. Paul Nicholls and Willie Mullins are another pair of trainers who have had good success in the race down through the years.
A lot of punters out there will be keeping it simple and will be backing their favourite number. My son was both on the 19th of October and I might throw a fiver on number 19 for him, whatever that horse will be on the day. Betting is meant to be fun and a race like this can involve and interest everyone, even if you generally don’t watch horse racing.
Just like numbers, many people out there will have favourite colours that they like to follow. I saw this played out first hand at Chelmsford for a myracing sponsored night in February. A new member of staff had never been to the races but he liked the colour red, so he parted with some of his hard-earned on those silks. The horse went on to win at 50-1. Why do I bother studying cards for hours upon hours a day, eh?
Some people love to follow a very catchy name. Some previous examples of this could be Hedgehunter, of course an apt winner of the race on his name alone, and Shutthefrontdoor who also had a very catchy name. Like previously mentioned, the Grand National punter typically likes to bet and have a bit of fun. It usually isn’t taken very seriously from a betting perspective and that’s the way it should be for a 40-runner handicap.
We tipped up the winner of the Grand National in 2017 with One For Arthur and again in 2019 with Tiger Roll. If you are struggling to find a horse to back, make sure you check out our Aintree tips and we will see if we can help you.
If you back any of our selections you can watch them live on the free Racing Post app or racingpost.com. Simply log in to one of your bookmaker accounts and click ‘Watch live’ on the racecards.