One of the few horse races to have utterly transcended the sport and reached into the hearts and minds of the wider populace is the Grand National. It takes place at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool each April and it is one of the greatest sporting spectacles of the year. From office sweepstakes to small each way bets on the 100/1 shots, the Grand National has been the one race that catches the public’s imagination more than any other in the UK.

At the three day Grand National Festival there is far more on offer than the monster four mile plus Grand National itself. Spread over the meeting we are brought a number of top class Grade 1 races including the Melling Chase and the Aintree Hurdle, and there are plenty of fine handicaps to keep the excitement levels high for racing punters.

Of course, whether betting on the big race alone or having a bet on the other horse races at the meeting, our odds comparison charts will help you quickly assess where the betting value lies. This will in turn help you to maximise the profits you make from your winning bets. And with the betting pointers and strategies below, you’ll be all set to make your mark at the next Grand National Festival in April.

Racing Highlights

Spread over Thursday, Friday and Saturday, this Liverpool meeting has a real party atmosphere, culminating of course with the Grand National itself on the Saturday. Here we run through some of the biggest races on the cards.

Grand National Festival Day 1

With four Grade 1 races and a very well regarded handicap, the opening day of the festival is certainly worth watching. The Betway Bowl is always a competitive chase and recent winners – including Cue Card and Silviniaco Conti – show the standard required to triumph.

The novices’ hurdle and novices’ chase that feature on the opening day, meanwhile, gives us an early look at some potential stars of the future, and winners of the Aintree Hurdle have also gone on to bigger and better things. The Red Rum Handicap – named of course after the three-time Grand National winner – often has plenty in the way of each way value for punters looking for that big win.

Grand National Festival Day 2

The second day of the Grand National Festival sees no let-up in the quality of the racing on show. The Topham Chase, one of three races at the meeting that is run over the Grand National fences, is always a fascinating race to attempt to unravel. The Melling Chase, meanwhile, often sees some of the best performers from the previous month’s Cheltenham Festival, especially those who competed in the Queen Mother Champion Chase or the Ryanair Chase. The likes of Sprinter Sacre, Master Minded and Moscow Flyer have won this in the past.

Grand National Festival Day 3

Then we get to the big day, and it is fair to say that the Grand National itself, with a distance of over four miles, 30 fences to clear and over £1 million in prize money, does very much take centre stage. The Maghull Novices’ Chase is definitely worth a watch first though, with some top class winners over the years, while the Liverpool Hurdle gives the best staying hurdlers in the game a fine race to go at.

Betting Strategies and Pointers

Betting on the Grand National itself is a very tricky endeavour and many people feel they might as well just pick a horse out of a hat when picking their bets. There is something in this, but nothing beats studying the past form of the runners over the longer distance chases on the National Hunt calendar.

Also it is worth paying particular attention to horse who have made it round the Grand National course unscathed in the past, even if they haven’t featured in the places. So many runners fall or unseat their riders over the tricky obstacles that proven ability to tackle the fences counts for a lot.

Aside from that, and the usual research of the form, one of the best ways to maximise your profits on the National is to ensure you get the best betting odds for your wagers… which is exactly where our odds comparison service can help you out!

Grand National Festival – A Brief History

Essentially the history of this meeting is the history of the Grand National itself. There is some debate about when the first Grand National actually took place, but it is generally considered to have first been run back in 1839. Taking that race as the first official running, the first winner was the appropriately named nine year old, Lottery. It certainly has been a lottery trying to pick the winner of the National on many occasions!

There have been numerous memorable moments to savour over the years, including the aforementioned Red Rum’s three victories. There have also been some low points too, such as the 1993 “race that never was” when a false start call went unheard and the race had to be declared void, not to mention the many horses that have succumbed to the tricky fences over the years.

Testing though they are, some of the Grand National’s obstacles have become famous in their own right. The most famous and one of the trickiest is Becher’s Brook, named after Captain Martin Becher. He fell at that fence in the first running of the National and took evasive action to avoid the oncoming horses, hiding in a brook.