Betting on the Grand National

Now the dust of Cheltenham has settled and the Gold Cup has had its run, it is time for the major April meetings to come our way and few will look further than the Grand National meet at the beginning of the month for some magnificent racing.

The Aintree club itself boasts a long line of fantastic races at this meet, with the three day meet starting on Thursday 3^rd April. Each day has some great national hunt racing on offer, but the race everyone is looking forward to is the Grand National itself on the Saturday afternoon. The race is iconic in the horse racing world, with any horse in the race having a chance of winning. At the minute, bookies are taking bets on up to 73 horses, with odds ranging from 12/1 to 100/1, so it really is a wide field. Last year’s winner Auroras Encore hung up his stirrups in January so Ryan Mania won’t be defending his crown on this horse, but who are the punters backing for the 2014 race?

The current favourite is Teaforthree, who had a run out at the recent Cheltenham meet, at 12/1. Behind the Rebecca Curtis trained horse come the likes of Tidal Bay (14/1), Long Run (16/1) and Balthazar King (16/1) completing the top four most fancied horses. But anything can happen in the National, so the likes of Wyck Hill at 25/1 each way and Hawkes Point at 33/1 could be good shouts to get a top four, or five, finish, depending on what your bookmaker pays out on.

To some betting on the National is like playing in the casino. You can do all the pre-race studying you like but when it comes down to the race your fate is in the hands of the racing gods – which makes the entire experience far more exciting.

Online casino betting has evolved over the past decade and now you can play on the arcades like break da bank again megaspin while at the races or down your local bookies. Take the Who wants to be a Stallionaire fruity, for example. The fruit machine depends on your luck and good judgement to weave through the horseshoes, jockey caps and riding whips, picking up bonuses as you surge into the lead and towards potential mega jackpots. The aim is to nail three lined horseshoes and play the Stallionaire bonus feature, which could see you land the equivalent of a race win at Aintree and put you up there with the best thoroughbreds in the world.

This post was written by Kalveer Singh