The World Famous Aintree Grand National
The Grand National is the single most famous horse race in the world, dating back to 1836 it is a race steeped in heritage, being run at Liverpool's famous Aintree Racecourse annually during the month of April. Without fail, for the one day each year, the race captures the imagination of the entire nation, from equine enthusiasts who live and breath racing to housewives who know very little about the sport of horse racing for the other 364 days of the year.
Run over a testing four mile four furlongs, the longest distance of any steeplechase handicap and consisting of 30 challenging fences, the tallest of which is 'The Chair', which stands at over 5ft in height. It takes a very specialist type of racehorse to successfully navigate the famous Aintree course and fences, let alone win the race. It is for this reason that each winner heads straight in to Racing's Hall of Fame.
The Grand National allows for a maximum of 40 entries, and with places in such high demand thanks to the prestige of winning the race, let alone the £700,000 in prize money available it is no surprise that the maximum 40 runners is reached every year as owners and trainers set out on their quest to unearth the next Grand National hero. This grand event is open to all ticket holders so buy Grand National tickets before they're all gone. You don't want to miss this spectacle.
Grand National History-
In its long history, the Grand National has been run 168 times throwing up 153 different winners. The only occasions when the race wasn't run was for three years during World War I, five years during World War II and that infamous race in 1993 when the race was abandoned due to several false starts and failure to come back and line up.
The most famous winner of the Grand National was Red Rum, who won the race an amazing three times in four years during the 1970's. Winning the race back to back in 1973 and 1974, before winning again in 1977. Amazingly, Red Rum also finished second in the two years when he didn't win the race in '75 and '76.
Grand National Tips-----
The Grand National is one of the sporting highlights of the year and the race will capture the imagination of 600 million viewers around the world. Results can be unpredictable; anything can happen and almost always does. Great predictions can be found at free-grandnationalbet.co.uk where you can find out who the favorites are to win. The task of finding the winner is never easy so to help with the selection process I have put together a few Grand National tips.
-Proven Stamina. Look for horses that have proven stamina over the longer marathon distances, any horse that has respectable form over a distance of at least 27 furlongs is worth making a note of, especially if they have been placed in either the Scottish, Welsh, English, Irish or Midlands Grand National.
-Jumping Ability. It's essential a horse has good jumping ability, check the form guide, if it has a history of falling or unseating rider dismiss it straight away. If a horse can't jump normal national hunt fences it will definitely struggle with the Grand National fences. Disregard all horses that have raced in novice chases in the previous 12 months, they won't have enough experience.
-Weight and Age. Red Rum is only horse that has managed to carry more than 11st5lbs to victory since 1957. Consider horses that have been set to carry around 11st3lbs or less. It's also worth checking the official handicap rating for each horse.
A rating of at least 135 should have been achieved for that season.
Don't be put off horses that have had a couple of runs in hurdle races for that season, the trainer may be protecting their horses chase handicap mark for the Grand National.
-Give preference to horses aged between 10 and 12, and definitely no younger than 8 , again, they don't have enough experience.
-Breeding. French Bred horses don't fare well in this race, not one French bred horse has won the Aintree Grand National in nearly 100 years.
-Very few races in France are run beyond 2 miles 6 furlongs, these horses are just not bred to get the distance.
The Irish bred candidates are always worth considering, the Irish have a history of breeding some of the best NH horses In the world.
Grand National Greats - Multiple Winners---
-Peter Simple won in 1849 and 1853
-Ab d-El-Kadr won the race in 1850 and 1851
-The Colonel won in 1869 and 1870
-The Lamb won in 1868 and 1871
-Manifesto won twice in 1895 and 1904 (and also hold the record for the most number of Grand National appearances, lining up on an impressive eight occasions).
-Reynolds-town won in 1935 and 1936
-Red Rum was the last to win back to back Grand National's and as the race and handicapping system remains as competitive as ever, it will take a very good horse to enter the record books with this achievement.
Grand National Trends Key Trends from the last 10 Grand Nationals'----
Many people like to look at trends when attempting to pick the winner of the grand national, some of the trends below may help you find the winner of this years race.
-7 of 10 winners have been aged 9 or 10 years of age.
-Only 2 favorites have won the Grand National in the past 10 running of the race.
-9 of the last 10 winners have carried less than 11 stone
-Jockey Ruby Walsh has the best record in recent times, winning the race twice in the past ten years on Papillon in 1999 and most recently Hedge-hunter in 2005.
-The most successful trainer in the past years has been Nigel Twist-on-Davies who has trained two winners, Earth Summit in 1998 and Bindaree in 2002.
I hope you find these Grand National information and tips useful, but please don't bet more than you can afford to lose.Just one more tip: If you can't get to a TV to watch the big race, Don't miss it .
Run over a testing four mile four furlongs, the longest distance of any steeplechase handicap and consisting of 30 challenging fences, the tallest of which is 'The Chair', which stands at over 5ft in height. It takes a very specialist type of racehorse to successfully navigate the famous Aintree course and fences, let alone win the race. It is for this reason that each winner heads straight in to Racing's Hall of Fame.
The Grand National allows for a maximum of 40 entries, and with places in such high demand thanks to the prestige of winning the race, let alone the £700,000 in prize money available it is no surprise that the maximum 40 runners is reached every year as owners and trainers set out on their quest to unearth the next Grand National hero. This grand event is open to all ticket holders so buy Grand National tickets before they're all gone. You don't want to miss this spectacle.
Grand National History-
In its long history, the Grand National has been run 168 times throwing up 153 different winners. The only occasions when the race wasn't run was for three years during World War I, five years during World War II and that infamous race in 1993 when the race was abandoned due to several false starts and failure to come back and line up.
The most famous winner of the Grand National was Red Rum, who won the race an amazing three times in four years during the 1970's. Winning the race back to back in 1973 and 1974, before winning again in 1977. Amazingly, Red Rum also finished second in the two years when he didn't win the race in '75 and '76.
Grand National Tips-----
The Grand National is one of the sporting highlights of the year and the race will capture the imagination of 600 million viewers around the world. Results can be unpredictable; anything can happen and almost always does. Great predictions can be found at free-grandnationalbet.co.uk where you can find out who the favorites are to win. The task of finding the winner is never easy so to help with the selection process I have put together a few Grand National tips.
-Proven Stamina. Look for horses that have proven stamina over the longer marathon distances, any horse that has respectable form over a distance of at least 27 furlongs is worth making a note of, especially if they have been placed in either the Scottish, Welsh, English, Irish or Midlands Grand National.
-Jumping Ability. It's essential a horse has good jumping ability, check the form guide, if it has a history of falling or unseating rider dismiss it straight away. If a horse can't jump normal national hunt fences it will definitely struggle with the Grand National fences. Disregard all horses that have raced in novice chases in the previous 12 months, they won't have enough experience.
-Weight and Age. Red Rum is only horse that has managed to carry more than 11st5lbs to victory since 1957. Consider horses that have been set to carry around 11st3lbs or less. It's also worth checking the official handicap rating for each horse.
A rating of at least 135 should have been achieved for that season.
Don't be put off horses that have had a couple of runs in hurdle races for that season, the trainer may be protecting their horses chase handicap mark for the Grand National.
-Give preference to horses aged between 10 and 12, and definitely no younger than 8 , again, they don't have enough experience.
-Breeding. French Bred horses don't fare well in this race, not one French bred horse has won the Aintree Grand National in nearly 100 years.
-Very few races in France are run beyond 2 miles 6 furlongs, these horses are just not bred to get the distance.
The Irish bred candidates are always worth considering, the Irish have a history of breeding some of the best NH horses In the world.
Grand National Greats - Multiple Winners---
-Peter Simple won in 1849 and 1853
-Ab d-El-Kadr won the race in 1850 and 1851
-The Colonel won in 1869 and 1870
-The Lamb won in 1868 and 1871
-Manifesto won twice in 1895 and 1904 (and also hold the record for the most number of Grand National appearances, lining up on an impressive eight occasions).
-Reynolds-town won in 1935 and 1936
-Red Rum was the last to win back to back Grand National's and as the race and handicapping system remains as competitive as ever, it will take a very good horse to enter the record books with this achievement.
Grand National Trends Key Trends from the last 10 Grand Nationals'----
Many people like to look at trends when attempting to pick the winner of the grand national, some of the trends below may help you find the winner of this years race.
-7 of 10 winners have been aged 9 or 10 years of age.
-Only 2 favorites have won the Grand National in the past 10 running of the race.
-9 of the last 10 winners have carried less than 11 stone
-Jockey Ruby Walsh has the best record in recent times, winning the race twice in the past ten years on Papillon in 1999 and most recently Hedge-hunter in 2005.
-The most successful trainer in the past years has been Nigel Twist-on-Davies who has trained two winners, Earth Summit in 1998 and Bindaree in 2002.
I hope you find these Grand National information and tips useful, but please don't bet more than you can afford to lose.Just one more tip: If you can't get to a TV to watch the big race, Don't miss it .
