Grand National Betting Sites Guide
The Grand National is an annual steeplechase held at the Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool and is the single biggest horse racing event in the British Isles. It has long been a staple feature of British betting culture in which horse racing enthusiasts, professional punters, and one-time only bettors alike come together to behold one of the most anticipated events in the yearly sporting calendar. Read More
| Operator | Welcome Offer | Information About the Bookmaker | Operator Rating | Secure Link | Terms: |
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| 1. William Hill | £30 3x £10 Free Bets |
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5.00 ★ out of 5
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williamhill.com | Full T&Cs apply. New online customers only, min £10/€10 stake, win only, min odds 1/2, free bets paid as 3 X £10/€10, 30 day expiry, free bet/payment method/player/country restrictions apply. 18+, Play Safe, www.gambleaware.org, #ad |
| 2. Ladbrokes | £30 In Free Bets |
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5.00 ★ out of 5
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ladbrokes.com | Full T&Cs apply. 18+ New UK+ROI Customers only. Certain deposit methods & bet types excl. Min first £5 bet within 14 days of account reg at min odds 1/2 to get 6 x £5 free bets (selected sportsbook markets only, valid 7 days, stake not returned). Restrictions + T&Cs apply. Play Responsibly. GambleAware.org |
| 3. Coral | £30 6 x £5 Free Bets |
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4.50 ★ out of 5
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lp.coral.co.uk | Full T&Cs apply. 18+ New UK + ROI customers only. Certain deposit methods & bet types excl. Min first £/€5 bet within 14 days of account reg at min odds 1/2 to get 6 x £/€5 free bets (selected sportsbook markets only, valid 7 days, stakes not returned). Restrictions + T&Cs apply. GambleAware.org Play Responsibly |
The following page, dedicated to Grand National Betting, will serve as your complete guide to the world-famous race. We’ll show you what kind of special offers you can expect to find, review the level of the odds prices and also provide a few interesting facts, figures and some historical information about the race itself. Closer to the off you can weigh the field against our nap of the day.
- Top Grand National Odds
- Great Pre-Race Markets
- Top Grand National Bonus
What the Grand National Means to Me
Everyone has a Grand National memory. Mine starts in a pub lounge on the outskirts of Leeds, perched on a barstool that was far too tall for an eight-year-old, watching my dad unfold the Racing Post on a sticky Saturday afternoon. The sweepstake draw had been done. I had pulled Party Politics out of a pint glass, and I can still remember the rush of hearing Peter O’Sullevan’s voice build to that famous crescendo as my horse came clear on the run-in. I did not truly understand what was happening, but I understood that it mattered. The whole pub erupted. That was the hook. That was the moment racing got me, and it has never let go.
Years later I made the pilgrimage to Aintree Racecourse for the first time, and nothing quite prepares you for it. You can watch the National a hundred times on television, study the fences in photographs, memorise the drop at Becher’s from diagrams in books. None of it comes close to standing at the Canal Turn as forty horses thunder towards you, the ground shaking underfoot, the noise of the crowd rising like a wave. The sheer scale of the course is staggering. When you walk the track on the morning of the race and stand at The Chair, looking up at five feet three inches of spruce, you wonder how anything with four legs and a heartbeat clears it. And then they do, at racing pace, with thirty-three others alongside them. It is breathtaking.
What makes the Grand National unlike any other race in the calendar is its reach. The Cheltenham Festival belongs to the dedicated jumps fan. Royal Ascot is for the Flat purist. The National belongs to everyone. It is the only horse race that brings an entire country together, the one afternoon when your nan, your next-door neighbour, the lads in the office and the regulars in the local all care about the same thing. Millions of people who would not know a hurdle from a handicap suddenly have a view, a selection and a reason to watch. That is not a weakness. That is the magic. The National invites people in, and plenty of them stay.
I have covered this race professionally for over fifteen years now. I have seen Hedgehunter battle through the mud, watched Tiger Roll write himself into legend, and been on course the day Rachael Blackmore became the first woman to ride the winner. Every year, without fail, the National produces something that no scriptwriter would dare invent. That unpredictability is precisely what draws us back. It is chaos and courage wrapped up in four miles of Merseyside turf, and there is simply nothing else like it in sport. If you are here for the first time, welcome. If you are a regular, welcome back. Let us get stuck in.
The Course and Its Famous Fences
The Grand National course at Aintree is unlike anything else in racing. Stretching four miles and two and a half furlongs, it is a vast, left-handed circuit that takes the field over thirty fences across two complete laps. The fences themselves are unique. Built from spruce and standing a minimum of four feet six inches tall, they are bigger, broader and more demanding than anything these horses face on a regular basis. There are no second chances here. Every fence requires respect, precision and bravery, from the first to the last.
What makes Aintree’s National fences so distinctive is their construction. Unlike conventional hurdles or chase fences found at other courses, the National fences are packed tightly with spruce, creating a thick, solid barrier. Horses cannot brush through them in the way they might elsewhere. A clean jump is rewarded. A sloppy one is punished. The landing side of several fences slopes away from the horse, adding another layer of difficulty. Add in the going, which at Aintree can vary considerably between a soft January and a drying spring, and you begin to understand why completing the course at all is an achievement.
Becher’s Brook
The most famous fence in horse racing. Named after Captain Martin Becher, who was thrown into the brook during the inaugural race in 1839 and reportedly remarked that water was no use without whisky. What makes Becher’s so treacherous is not the fence itself but the landing. The ground drops away on the far side, and horses that jump too steeply or too flat can lose their footing on impact. The landing was raised and levelled significantly after the 2012 review, but Becher’s remains the fence that every jockey treats with the greatest caution. Approached on a curve from the left, it demands that riders hold a wide line to avoid the steepest part of the drop.
The Chair
The tallest and most imposing fence on the course, standing five feet three inches high with a six-foot open ditch on the take-off side. The Chair is only jumped once during the race, on the first circuit, and it sits directly in front of the grandstands. There is something uniquely theatrical about it. What makes The Chair so demanding is the combination of height and the open ditch, which forces horses to stand off and jump with real conviction. Despite its fearsome reputation, it actually produces fewer fallers than some of the plainer fences, largely because horses respect its size and jump it with extra care.
The Canal Turn
A fence that asks a question no other obstacle in racing does. Immediately after clearing the Canal Turn, horses must make a sharp ninety-degree turn to the left. It is a manoeuvre that rewards bold, front-running types who can dictate the line and punishes those caught in traffic on the inside. Jockeys who know the course aim to jump the fence at an angle, already committed to the turn before they leave the ground. In big fields, the concertina effect here can cost lengths, or worse.
Valentine’s Brook
Named after a horse that is said to have cleared it so extravagantly in the early years of the race that spectators remembered little else. Valentine’s Brook features a significant brook on the landing side that catches out horses who do not get sufficient height and distance over the fence. It sits just after the Canal Turn, meaning horses approach it at pace having just negotiated the sharp bend. The combination of the two obstacles in quick succession is one of the most demanding passages on the entire course.
Foinavon
The smallest fence on the course, but the one that lent its name to the most improbable Grand National story of them all. In 1967, a loose horse caused a mass pile-up at this fence, and Foinavon, so far behind the field that he avoided the chaos entirely, picked his way through the carnage and galloped to victory at odds of 100/1. Every time the field approaches this fence, the memory of that extraordinary day hangs in the air. It is a reminder that in the Grand National, anything can happen. And it usually does.
Beyond the famous obstacles, the sheer length of the course makes it a relentless test of stamina. Two full circuits, with a long run-in from the final fence to the finishing post, means that only horses with genuine staying power and reserves of fitness can be competitive. Course form, while rare given that few horses get the chance to run over the National fences regularly, is invaluable when it exists, which is why studying the form over these unique obstacles matters so much.
The Legends of the Grand National
The Grand National does not simply produce winners. It produces legends. The roll of honour reads like a sporting novel, packed with characters, comebacks and stories that have entered the national consciousness. These are the horses and the people who turned a steeplechase into mythology.
Red Rum
There is Red Rum, and then there is everybody else. No horse in the history of the race comes close to what Rummy achieved. Three victories and two seconds from five consecutive runnings between 1973 and 1977 is a record that will almost certainly never be matched. Trained by Ginger McCain on the sands of Southport beach, Red Rum seemed to thrive on the unique demands of Aintree. His 1973 victory, when he overhauled the long-time leader Crisp in the dying strides of one of the greatest races ever run, is burned into the collective memory of British sport. His 1977 victory, returning at the age of twelve to win for a third time, sent the course into delirium. He is buried at the winning post at Aintree, and his name is still the first that comes to mind when anyone mentions the Grand National.
Tiger Roll
When Tiger Roll crossed the line at Aintree in April 2019, he achieved something no horse had managed since Red Rum himself: consecutive Grand National victories. Trained by Gordon Elliott and ridden by Davy Russell, Tiger Roll was a small, tough, irrepressible horse who relished the unique challenge of the National fences. His 2018 victory came at 10/1. His 2019 triumph was something else entirely. Sent off the 4/1 favourite, he moved through the field with an economy of effort that belied the chaos around him and ran on strongly up the long run-in. Comparisons with Red Rum were inevitable, and for once they were deserved. The pandemic denied him a shot at three in a row in 2020, but those two springs were enough to cement his place alongside the greatest.
Aldaniti & Bob Champion
Some stories transcend sport, and the 1981 Grand National is one of them. Bob Champion had been diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1979 and was given months to live. He endured gruelling chemotherapy and at his lowest points wondered if he would ever sit on a horse again. Aldaniti, meanwhile, had suffered a serious leg injury that threatened to end his career. Together, broken and rebuilt, they arrived at Aintree and produced one of the most emotionally charged victories in the history of British sport. As they crossed the line, it was impossible not to be moved. This was not just a horse race. It was a story about courage, survival and the refusal to accept that the game was over.
Foinavon
The 1967 Grand National gave us the Foinavon fence and one of the most extraordinary finishes in sporting history. At the fence that now bears his name, a loose horse caused pandemonium. Horses crashed into each other, jockeys were thrown to the ground, and the entire field ground to a halt. All except Foinavon. So far behind the leaders that he had a clear view of the carnage, jockey John Buckingham steered his 100/1 outsider around the mayhem and set off alone. He held on by fifteen lengths. It was shambolic, glorious and completely unrepeatable. Foinavon was no champion. He was something better. He was proof that in the Grand National, the impossible is always possible.
Rachael Blackmore on Minella Times
The 2021 Grand National will be remembered for generations. Rachael Blackmore, riding Minella Times for trainer Henry de Bromhead, became the first female jockey to win the world’s most famous steeplechase. She had already made history at the Cheltenham Festival a month earlier. At Aintree, she completed the set. What struck you watching Blackmore was the quiet composure, the stillness in the saddle, the ice-cold decision-making at the Canal Turn and Becher’s second time around. She made it look straightforward, which is the greatest compliment you can pay any jockey in the National. Blackmore did not win despite being a woman. She won because she was the best rider on the best horse on the biggest day.
Recent Winners
The modern era has produced its own memorable renewals. Corach Rambler won the 2023 running in the hands of Derek Fox, bouncing back from a pulled-up effort the year before to score with authority. I Am Maximus gave Paul Townend a first National in 2024, storming clear in the first year with the reduced field of 34 runners. And in 2025, Nick Rockett delivered one of those fairytale results that only the Grand National can provide, winning at 33/1 to send his connections into dreamland. Each year brings a new story. That is the beauty of this race.
More Than Just the National: The Three-Day Festival
It is easy to think of Aintree as a one-race venue, but that would be a disservice to what has become one of the finest three-day meetings in the National Hunt calendar. The Grand National is the centrepiece, of course, but the quality of racing on Thursday and Friday is genuinely outstanding. Trainers target these races all season. Jockeys rearrange their schedules to be there. For the serious jumps fan, the Aintree Festival is not just about Saturday.
Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle
The championship race for the younger hurdlers, often attracting the stars of the Triumph Hurdle generation. Thursday at Aintree is a proper day’s racing by any measure, with four Grade 1 contests on one card that would be the highlight of the season at most courses.
Manifesto Novices’ Chase
A top-class novice chase that regularly features future Gold Cup contenders. It is one of the four Grade 1 races that make Aintree’s opening day a far stronger card than its billing as the festival’s warm-up act suggests.
Aintree Hurdle
One of the premier hurdle races of the spring, over two and a half miles, frequently producing a rematch of Cheltenham’s Champion Hurdle principals. Alongside the Bowl Chase, the two-and-a-half-mile championship contest, it gives Thursday a genuine championship feel.
Melling Chase
The two-mile championship chase, often featuring the very best chasers in training and a regular destination for Cheltenham’s Queen Mother Chase hero. The Melling alone would headline any other meeting in the country, yet it shares a card with three further Grade 1 races.
Mildmay & Top Novices’ Races
The Mildmay Novices’ Chase over three miles attracts improvers with a future over fences, while the Top Novices’ Hurdle over two miles often settles arguments left unresolved at Cheltenham. The Sefton Novices’ Hurdle over three miles completes a card widely considered the strongest of the festival.
The Grand National
The main event. Four miles two and a half furlongs, thirty fences, the most famous horse race in the world. Earlier on the card the Topham Chase is run over the National fences at a shorter trip of two miles and five furlongs, a cracking race in its own right that often gives clues for the National itself.
Francis’s Grand National Betting Guide
The Grand National is the biggest single betting race in the United Kingdom. In 2017, an estimated three hundred million pounds was wagered on the race. Millions of people who never normally place a bet will have a flutter on the National, and that is part of its charm. But if you want to approach it with a degree of method rather than simply sticking a pin in the racecard, there are patterns and principles worth understanding.
The Favourite Problem
Only six market favourites have won the Grand National since 1999. That is a strike rate that should give anyone pause before lumping on the jolly. This is a handicap with thirty-four runners over four miles of the most demanding fences in racing, and the scope for things to go wrong is enormous. A favourite might be the best horse on ability, but ability alone does not guarantee safe passage over Becher’s Brook or a clear run at the Canal Turn. That said, do not dismiss the favourite entirely: it has placed far more often than it has won, so for the each-way punter the market leader can still offer value on the place part of the bet.
Each-Way is King
If there is one race made for each-way betting, it is the Grand National. Most bookmakers offer quarter the odds for four or five places, and some extend that to six or seven as a promotion. In a thirty-four-runner field where the favourite regularly fails, backing a horse at bigger prices with the safety net of a place return is a sound strategy. A 20/1 shot that finishes third pays 5/1 on the place part alone. Work the returns out in advance with an each-way calculator so you know exactly what your stake will return at each finishing position.
Weight Trends
The Grand National is a handicap, and weight matters. The trend in recent decades has shifted towards horses carrying lighter weights. Since the turn of the century, the majority of winners have carried between 10st 7lb and 11st 4lb. There are exceptions: Tiger Roll carried 11st 5lb to victory in 2019. But as a general principle, horses near the top of the handicap face a tougher task over four miles and thirty fences. The weight grinds them down over the final half-mile, and that long run-in from the last fence to the line is where stamina and low weight combine.
Age and Experience
The ideal Grand National horse tends to be between eight and eleven years old. Young enough to have the stamina and constitution to last four miles, experienced enough to have learned how to jump at speed in big fields. Horses aged seven or younger have a poor record, largely because they lack the racing miles and the maturity to cope with the unique demands of Aintree. At the other end, horses aged twelve and above are fighting against the clock. Red Rum won at twelve, but Red Rum was an outlier in every possible sense.
How to Narrow a 34-Runner Field
Start with the handicap, eliminating horses at the very top and very bottom of the weights unless they have exceptional credentials. Check the official rating: since 2024 the minimum to qualify is 130, and winners tend to cluster between 140 and 155. Assess stamina, ideally proven form at three miles plus on soft or heavy ground. Look for course and fence experience from the National, the Topham or the Becher Chase. Demand recent form, a sound jumping record, and a trainer who consistently targets the race, such as Lucinda Russell, Gordon Elliott, Willie Mullins or Emmet Mullins.
The Romance vs The Data
Here is the tension at the heart of Grand National betting. The data tells you to be methodical, to eliminate the no-hopers, to focus on the profiles that have historically produced winners. But the National has given us five 100/1 winners. It gave us Foinavon. It gave us Auroras Encore at 66/1 and Mon Mome at 100/1 as recently as 2009. My advice: do your homework, narrow the field, have your serious bets. And then, with whatever is left in the budget, have one on the outsider that makes your heart beat faster. Because in the Grand National, anything can happen.
Safety, Welfare and How the Race Has Evolved
Any honest discussion of the Grand National must address the question of safety. The race has always carried risk. Horses have been injured and lost over the years, and that reality has rightly prompted scrutiny, debate and, most importantly, action. What matters is not whether the race was once dangerous. What matters is what has been done about it, and the answer is: a great deal.
The most significant overhaul came in 2013, following a comprehensive review of the course and its fences. The traditional solid timber cores of the fences were replaced with flexible plastic birch that gives way on impact rather than resisting it. The landing side of Becher’s Brook was raised and levelled to reduce the severity of the drop. The first fence was moved further from the start to allow the field to settle. The ground on the landing side of several fences was re-profiled. These were fundamental changes to the way the course rode, and the data since 2013 shows a significant reduction in incidents.
Further reforms arrived in 2024. The maximum field size was reduced from forty to thirty-four, easing congestion at the early fences where the risk of interference is highest. The minimum official rating was raised to 130, ensuring every horse has demonstrated a level of ability commensurate with the demands of the race. A standing start was reintroduced to replace the flag start, giving jockeys more control in the opening strides. Aintree works closely with the British Horseracing Authority, the RSPCA and independent veterinary experts to monitor the race and its fences. As someone who loves this race, I believe the changes have been necessary, proportionate and effective. The Grand National is a safer race today than it has ever been.
The Grand National by the Numbers
The facts and figures behind the world’s most famous steeplechase. A race that has been producing stories since 1839 also produces remarkable numbers.
The Five 100/1 Winners
Tipperary Tim
Only two horses finished the race. Tipperary Tim was one of them.
Gregalach
Won the very next year at the same enormous price, a quite staggering coincidence.
Caughoo
Won in thick fog so dense that many spectators did not see the finish.
Foinavon
Avoided the pile-up at the fence that now bears his name and galloped home alone.
Mon Mome
The most recent 100/1 winner, ridden by Liam Treadwell, who gave one of the great post-race interviews.