As the joy of the Cheltenham Festival starts to rescind, the hype of the Grand National starts to pick up. From the 12^th to the 14^th of April, all of Europe’s best horses will be on Merseyside as they vie to scoop the honours at the Grand National. Just like any other event, they are clear favourites expected to provide much of the entertainment and this year’s Grand National is no different as a number of horses are tipped to win by various sportsbooks including NetBet Sport.

 

Buveur D’Air

 

Buveur D’Air will be competing in the Aintree Hurdle, the same race he won last time around so he will be aiming to make it two wins in a row. The horse comes into the Grand National on the back of success at the Cheltenham Festival where he won in the Champion Hurdle. Buveur D’Air started the Champion Hurdle as the favourite, the same tag he goes into the Aintree Hurdle with therefore will be hoping to emulate his performance at the Cheltenham Festival. In addition, the fact that Buveur D’Air made it two Champion Hurdle wins in a row at the Festival will give him an impetus to repeat the same feat at the Grand National.

 

Might Bite

 

Might Bite will race in the Betway Bowl at the Grand National. The race is the perfect platform for Might Bite to redeem himself having lost the Gold Cup at the Cheltenham Festival to Native River. Might Bite enjoyed some success last year at the Grand National when he won the Mildmay Novices’ Chase and the same result is expected this time around. Might Bite will find comfort in the fact that he will not be competing with his new rival, Native River at the Grand National as he has been retired for the remainder of the season.

 

Balkos Des Flos

 

Balkos Des Flos is competing in the Betway Bowl. A few months ago, Balkos Des Flos was an unknown entity but such has been the brilliance of Balkos Des Flos that he is going into the Betway Bowl at the Grand National which has some outstanding horses as a favourite. Balkos Des Flos won in the 1st Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Festival to round off a period of some good performances. Though he won in impressive style at the Cheltenham Festival, the Betway Bowl at the Grand National will be a different proposition for Balkos Des Flos, therefore, Henry de Bromhead, the trainer will have to work really hard with his horse.

 

Yanworth

 

Yanworth is competing in the Liverpool Hurdle at this year’s Grand National. Though Yanworth still has the favourite tag to win the race, it’s the same race that he won at last year’s Grand National, more will be expected from him as his performance at the Cheltenham Festival was dismal, to say the least. Yanworth competed in the Stayer’s Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival and struggled heavily in a race he was expected to win comfortably. A good performance at the Grand National will do a lot of good to Yanworth and a poor performance will probably mark the end of an illustrious career.

 

The Cheltenham Festival has come and gone, and now the horse racing industry has turned its head toward the Grand National on April 12^th through the 14^th.

 

The Cheltenham Festival has given many horse racing trainers and jockeys hope of continued success. However, others will be looking to regain form when they take to the course at Aintree.

 

There are five horses ready to continue on from their experiences at Cheltenham, and each has plenty to prove on Merseyside. Below are five horses looking to complete a horse race double or to overcome a poor result at Cheltenham. To get up to the minute tips and odds on each of the horses featured, be sure to read more at GG racing tips.

 

Buveur D’Air

 

Buveur D’Air will compete in the Aintree Hurdle during the Grand National festival. The horse had great success at Cheltenham as Buveur D’Air won the Champion Hurdle. Trained by Nicky Henderson, Buveur D’Air has won the Champion Hurdle race two years running. Not only has Buveur D’Air dominated at Cheltenham, the horse has performed well at Aintree. This season, he aims to win the Aintree Hurdle for the second consecutive year.

 

Balkos Des Flos

 

Balkos Des Flos is being lined up for a run at the Betway Bowl. The race will take place the first day of the Grand National festival. Balkos Des Flos is coming off of a fantastic win in the 1^st Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham. The horse is another Irish trained runner, as it seems most of the top horses come from the Emerald Isle this year. Trained by Henry de Bromhead, Balkos Des Flos could be up against some heavy hitters in the Betway Bowl. Bromhead’s horse could steal the show and pull off a brilliant double win.

 

Might Bite

 

After his Gold Cup loss to Colin Tizzard’s Native River, Might Bite is lined up to race in the Betway Bowl. The horse won’t feature against Native River as the cup winner has been retired for the rest of the season. Not having to race against his new rival could see Might Bite run to glory in the race. Might Bite won the Mildmay Novices’ Chase last year at Aintree. Back-to-back wins at the race course will go down well with the Henderson training camp. A win will go a long way in helping the team forget about its runner-up finish in the Gold Cup.

 

Yanworth

 

Yanworth struggled mightily at Cheltenham in the Stayers’ Hurdles. The horse should run better at Aintree where the ground won’t be quite so soft. Yanworth won the Liverpool Hurdle last season at the Grand National festival and it is the same race the horse will be striving to win again this year.

 

Apple’s Shakira

 

Apple’s Shakira will compete in the Anniversary 4-Y-O Hurdle. The horse will enter the festival on the back of a poor finish in Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham. The Henderson trained horse has a lot to prove when it takes to the track at Aintree. Whether Henderson can get the best out of the filly is the big question.

 

Tabcorp, the biggest gaming operator in Australia likely didn’t bet on one of their own employees divising a craftily clever scam which bagged him and his other half, over half a million Australian dollars. Trevor Raine and his hiphop dance teacher wife Talanoa collected a total of $600,000 across Sydney and Melbourne bookmakers by forging TAB betting slips.

 

How on earth would bookmakers, who have no doubt seen every trick in the book, fall for such a thing, I hear you ask? Well this fruad was something of an inside job and to be fair was pretty well thought out. Mr Raine worked in the IT department at Tabcorp and was able to call up unclaimed betting slips. He figured out that by forging betting slips that hadn’t been claimed for three months + and copying their serial numbers before printing them off, he could make a healthy profit while his misdeeds went unnoticed.

 

And for a while that’s precisely what happened. He and his wife claimed $4,000 from 9 bets at various betting outlets. Impressed by the ease of their endeavour however, greed eventually got the better of the pair resulting in them cashing in an almost hilarious number of tickets – 260 to be precise – in just one day totalling $63,000. The couple pulled off the scam over 30 times in total. All wins were under $10,000, the amount at which they have to be reported to government authorities.

 

The couple had dreams of paying off their debts and mortgage with their magic money tree scheme. Sadly for them it all came to a crashing end when a TAB punter found a misplaced winning ticket several months after placing his bet and went to collect his rightly earned winnings. When it appeared on the system as already claimed, a breadcrumb trail (and CCTV footage!) led direcly to the greedy couple, who will now get to tell cell mates about their betting slip-up for many years to come!

Bringing racing to the yoot!