The famous Aintree Racecourse is home to the fantastic Randox Grand National every year and the big race is set for Sunday’s 5.15pm start!
The actual meeting for the Aintree Festival starts today with the Opening Day, followed by Ladies Day on the Friday and then we finish with Grand National Day on the Saturday.
All in all, it is a fantastic festival of horse racing, and one of the most popular days for punters across the UK and beyond, many of whom will have their one bet a year on the outcome of the race.
That means you can expect betting sites like bet365 Sport to be very busy from now until the race starts on Saturday taking bets from a wide range of punters.
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Let’s now take a look back at the history of the race, starting with a look at what makes it so special.
The very first Grand National was contested in 1839, although there are records of similar races being held in the years preceding this race, although they are not counted in the official records.
Somewhat appropriately given how open and difficult to predict the race would become, the first winner was portentously called ‘Lottery’.
Over the years, the race has produced some of the most exciting and memorable moments in horse racing and sporting history. Red Rum chasing down Crisp in the 1973 race to clinch the win right on the line, the famous outsider Foinavon winning the race when a riderless horse caused a mass pile up at the fence that now bears the name of the winning horse.
There was also the emotional win for Bob Champion and Aldaniti in 1981, when the jockey overcame cancer and the horse a lameness in his leg as a youngster to claim an emotional win.
Part of what makes the meeting so special is the Grand National course, which features 16 jumps, 14 of which are jumped twice in the race itself.
Some of those fences have the most iconic names in horse racing history; Becher’s Brook, Valentine’s Brook, the Canal Turn, the Water Jump and the fearsome The Chair are all iconic fences, most of which must be jumped twice.
In recent times, the meeting has moved from a one-day meeting to a three day meeting and that action begins today as we can see from the full list of races across all three days below.
Today is the day when the final field of the national is reduced to 40 runners from the 50 that had been declared earlier in the week. We already knew four of those horses would not run (all owned by Gordon Elliott) but the final field for the race is confirmed today,
| No | Runner | Age | Trainer | Prev. Odds | Current Odds | Jockey |
| 26 | Corach Rambler | 9 | Lucinda Russell | 6/1 fav | 6/1 fav | Derek Fox |
| 2 | Noble Yeats | 8 | Emmett Mullins | 8/1 | 7/1 | Sean Bowen |
| 7 | Delta Work | 10 | Gordon Elliott | 8/1 | 8/1 | Keith Donoghue |
| 12 | Longhouse Poet | 9 | Martin Brassil | 12/1 | 12/1 | JJ Slevin |
| 1 | Any Second Now | 11 | Ted Walsh | 12/1 | 12/1 | Mark Walsh |
| 13 | Gaillard Du Mesnil | 7 | Willie Mullins | 14/1 | 12/1 | Paul Townend |
| 28 | Mr Incredible | 7 | Willie Mullins | 14/1 | 14/1 | Brian Hayes |
| 15 | Le Milos | 8 | Dan Skelton | 16/1 | 14/1 | Harry Skelton |
| 23 | Vanillier | 8 | Gavin Cromwell | 20/1 | 16/1 | Sean Flanagan |
| 6 | Capodanno | 7 | Willie Mullins | 22/1 | 16/1 | Danny Mullins |
| 35 | Our Power | 8 | Sam Thomas | 20/1 | 20/1 | Sam Twstn-Davis |
| 3 | Galvin | 9 | Gordon Elliott | 20/1 | 20/1 | Davy Russell |
| 25 | Ain’t That A Shame | 9 | Henry De Bromhead | 20/1 | 20/1 | Rachael Blackmre |
| 5 | The Big Dog | 10 | Peter Fahey | 25/1 | 25/1 | Aidan Coleman |
| 9 | Lifetime Ambition | 8 | Mrs John Harrington | 25/1 | 25/1 | Sean O’Keeffe |
| 17 | The Big Breakaway | 8 | Joe Tizzard | 33/1 | 33/1 | Brendan Powell |
| 11 | Coko Beach | 8 | Gordon Elliott | 33/1 | 33/1 | Harry Cobden |
| 10 | Carefully Selected | 11 | Willie Mullins | 33/1 | 33/1 | Michael O’Sullivan |
| 24 | Velvet Elvis | 7 | Thomas Gibney | 40/1 | 40/1 | Darragh O’Keeffe |
| 19 | Roi Mage | 11 | Patrick Griffin | 40/1 | 40/1 | Felix de Giles |
| 29 | Mister Coffey | 8 | Nicky Henderson | 40/1 | 40/1 | Nico De Boinville |
| 4 | Fury Road | 9 | Gordon Elliott | 40/1 | 40/1 | Jonjo O’Neill Jr. |
| 14 | Darasso | 10 | J.P. O’Brien | 40/1 | 40/1 | Luke Dempsey |
| 32 | Gabbys Cross | 8 | Henry De Bromhead | 50/1 | 50/1 | Peter Carberry |
| 36 | Dunboyne | 8 | Gordon Elliott | 50/1 | 50/1 | Jack Tudor |
| 34 | Eva’s Oskar | 9 | Tim Vaughan | 50/1 | 50/1 | Alan Johns |
| 39 | Back On The Leash | 9 | Martin Keighley | 66/1 | 50/1 | Adam Webb |
| 22 | Minella Trump | 9 | Donald McCain | 66/1 | 66/1 | Theo Gillard |
| 38 | Fortescue | 9 | Henry Daly | 66/1 | 66/1 | Hugh Nugent |
| 20 | Diol Ker | 9 | Noel Meade | 66/1 | 66/1 | Kieren Buckley |
| 27 | Enjoy D’Allen | 9 | Ciaran Murphy | 66/1 | 66/1 | Simon Torrens |
| 31 | Hill Sixteen | 10 | Sandy Thomson | 66/1 | 66/1 | Ryan Mania |
| 30 | Cloudy Glen | 10 | Venetia Williams | 66/1 | 66/1 | Charlie Deutsch |
| 37 | Francky Du Berlais | 10 | Peter Bowen | 66/1 | 66/1 | Ben Jones |
| 8 | Sam Brown | 11 | Anthony Honeyball | 80/1 | 80/1 | Johnny Burke |
| 40 | Born By The Sea | 9 | Paul John Gilligan | 100/1 | 100/1 | Philip Enright |
| 21 | A Wave Of The Sea | 7 | Joseph O’Brien | 100/1 | 100/1 | Shane Fitzgerald |
| 18 | Cape Gentleman | 7 | John Joseph Hanlon | 100/1 | 100/1 | Jody McGarvey |
| 33 | Recite A Prayer | 8 | Willie Mullins | 100/1 | 100/1 | TBC |
| 16 | Escaria Ten | 9 | Gordon Elliott | 80/1 | 100/1 | Adrian Heskin |
With 40 runners, an arduous length and 30 difficult fences to jump, picking a winner in the Grand National in any year is tough and 2023’s race will be no different.
Last year’s winner Noble Yeats, has already found support, being backed in from 8/1 to 7/1 over the last 24-hours, while Gaillard Du Mesnil has also shortened from 14/1 to 12/1.
However Vanillier and Capodanno are the two biggest movers in the ante post betting over the last 24 hours, coming in from 20/1 and 22/1 to 16/1 each respectively.
Looking at the odds, my horse to back for the win is probably either Delta Work or Noble Yeats, but I actually feel the each way market here offers better value.
Bet365 is paying out on the top six finishers at odds of 1/5 and as such, I think there are some great options here namely:
So good luck if you are going to have a bet on the National this weekend and enjoy the rest of the fabulous Aintree Festival this week!
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