The dust may have settled on the Cheltenham Festival but British racing still has its biggest fixture yet coming up tomorrow, the Grand National at Liverpool’s Aintree Racecourse.
The fixture is a huge event for hardcore racing fans and casual bettors alike, with many part-time punters paying their only visit to a high-street bookies of the year during Grand National weekend.
According to data from Ladbrokes and Coral owner Entain, 700% more bets were placed on the 2024 Grand National than that year’s Gold Cup. Other estimates put the total amount staked across all UK and Irish bookies last year in excess of £250m.
“The Grand National is an integral part of the trading year and traditionally the race that generates the highest turnover,” said Sharon McHugh, Head of Communications and Sponsorship at BoyleSports.
“It’s also the one opportunity to engage the non-racing public, even if not necessarily one for the racing purists – so it’s fair to say we welcome the safety changes over the last few years because the last thing we want is some of the carnage we’ve seen in the past.”
The 2025 Grand National seems set for success, although horse racing in general has been facing challenging times lately. The sport has seen some declining attendees – though bookmakers speaking to SBC News after Cheltenham seemed unfazed by this.
Racecourse Media Group (RMG), the rights holder to UK and Irish racing, and its distribution partner HBA Media, have secured wide distribution for this year’s fixture.
A total of 32 broadcasters will cover the race across all six continents, and media and operators alike will be hoping for a repeat of last year’s success and the engagement this can bring – for the 2024 National, over 600 million people worldwide tuned in.
Making an international comparison, Paul Binfield, Paddy Power Journalist, said: “Much like March Madness pool, many workplaces and friends’ groups will organise a sweepstake and enjoy a wager in the world’s most famous steeplechase. It’s a 10 minute roller coaster where dreams can end at the very first fence.”
As usual, the Grand National is packed with horses which ran at Cheltenham just a few weeks ago. Also, trading teams and punters will be using Cheltenham performance to gauge who may come on top at Aintree tomorrow.
Cheltenham proved to be a blinding week for bookmakers due to many favourites falling short. Also, with Gold Win winner Meetingofthewaters now withdrawn from the National, many bettors will have to find another prospect.
“As for the race itself – Hewick missed Cheltenham to be aimed at this and has been steadily backed down from 66/1 to 9/1, so he’s shaping up to be the worst result in our book. And looks to be living up to Shark’s prediction that he’ll go off favourite!,” McHugh added.
“It looks like he’s going to get the good ground he wants and he really resonates with the public, especially in Ireland. There have been a couple of four-figure bets including one this morning of €2,500 and trainer Shark Hanlon’s prediction that he’d go off favourite is now a real possibility.
“That still remains questionable however as he wouldn’t engage the UK market as much as the Irish and we anticipate a good spread of market support once the UK customers come on the day of the race. Iroko will be popular there, as he looks like one the leading chances among the horses trained in the UK.
“One who is friendless in the betting at the minute is Intense Raffles, the BoyleSports Irish Grand National winner last year. He’s drifting and could go bigger on the day the way the market is going.”
Credit: Mick Atkins / Shutterstock
As trading gets underway, bookmakers are also undertaking product preparations. Bet365, for example, is looking to stand out from the crowd by offering ‘Non-Runner No Bet’ in tomorrow’s event.
This move comes not that long after the online bookmaker rolled out its own version of the “Super Sub’ product, ‘Sub On Play On’. With the UK betting market becoming increasingly competitive and subject to ongoing regulatory changes, the company seems keen to keep its product and customer engagement ahead of the curve.
“Connections of Inothewayurthinkin have decided not to aim for the Gold Cup winner at next month’s Grand National,” said Pat Cooney, bet365’s Horse Racing Expert.
“We became Non Runner-no bet from 5pm on Friday 14 March, so those who took the 3/1 about him will get their stakes back. His owner, JP McManus still has a strong hand in the big one with, notably, Iroko (6/1 joint fav), I Am Maximus (8/1) and Perceval Legallois (12/1) with a couple of outsiders likely to also take part.
“The other new 6/1 joint fav is last season’s Irish Grand National winner Intense Raffles , so it looks a high class renewal of the great race.
“Market leaders on the day have won the last two renewals of the race, and already our liabilities are building up on Intense Raffles and last year’s hero I Am Maximus. I’d expect them to continue to be popular in the build up to the greatest race in the world!”
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