On April 14th 2018 we once again get to watch what is surely for many, the most highlightly anticipated National Hunt event of the year. Held over 4 miles 514 yards of the Aintree, Liverpool racecourse, the Grand National offers a huge prize fund of more than £1,000,000 (£560,000+ for the winner) and draws millions of eyeballs to screen across the nation, both in homes and in bustling and busy pubs across the nation. Tens of thousands will be on course to watch the action unfold too. Such is the awareness of the event then many will even know the names of fences that form part of the 30 jumps (over two laps), such as Becher’s Brook and The Chair. This year the 2018 race, sponsored by Randox Health will take place on ITV at 5:15pm on the aforementioned date, so there’s no excuse for missing it now!
Let’s take a look at the Grand National 2018 Runners after a brief analysis of years gone by. Last year’s winner was One for Arthur ridden by Derek Fox and trained by Lucinda Russell at odds of 14-1. The previous year saw Rule The World grab the first place spot at a generous 33-1. In fact, you have to go back a good few years, 2010 in fact, to find even a joint favourite winner: Don’t Push It at 10-1 JF with Tony McCoy onboard. Some might not be put off by that fact though, and feel that a favourite is now due to win (Blaklion and Total Recall are current joint favourites at 10-1). Others will take the view that if Grand National favourites are so unpredictable then why not opt for a big odds outsider come what may. After all, a few 100-1 shots have won over the years and that’s just with bookmakers, you can likely multiply those odds by a time or two on the betting exchanges.
So with both Blaklion and Total Recall having decent claims in the National, how about looking for bigger odds selections? Minella Rocco at 25-1 is surely worth a look. If the ground is good to soft that’s where he excels and surely second in the Gold Cup is no walk in the park either. Trainer Jonjo O’Neill appears to like his chances. Not big enough odds? How about 33-1 Scottish National winner Vincente? Unseated in the Welsh National but the Paul Nicholls trained horse is certainly no no-hoper. Still not good enough? Well I can’t say that any of the 100-1 offerings this time around fill me with confidence, so I’ll leave it to you to find the hidden gem(s) and to have a story to tell the grandkids for decades to come! Make sure you have at least a tenner on!