Teh Grand National

is Hedgehunter the second favourite this time?

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41516000/gif/_41516862_lord_of_illusion.gif

Might be worth an each way punt and hope a few of the better horses take a tumble.

xpost

33/1 and it's had two places already over the National fences (it says on the beeb, don't want people thinking I know what Im talking about or anything.

So what you're saying is that the word on the street is to put yer shirt on Lord of Illusion?

http://www.yourspacenow.com/img/animated183.gif

I can't imagine why. I had a whale of a time.

So, you're going for First Gold. Good luck.

Loads of great ones in this list here, like Winning Glory and Sure Thing.

^_^

One of my donkeys caused the false start and I'd lost interest in the race as a whole by the sixth. Bah.

The owner is a friend of my dad's, I couldn't think of any other horse to bet on plus it looked a good shot so I put 15 euro on it at 11-1 : )

My sweepstake selection is already on its way to Ryman as a carton of Pritt-sticks.

I might put a tenner on this horse called 'Bar' at 20-1. Bound to be a winner.

I think the 20-1 Bar is the refreshments stall at Aintree. Trying to decide who's got the best looking top:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/horse_racing/7310650.stm

I would like a horsey to win.

A quick trawl through the list of previous winners suggests you'll be in luck.

Tony McCoy to finally get his first national win on Butler's Cabin. Currently available at 16/1.

I haven't won any money on the National since Corbiere in '83. Not a peep about a sweepstake here - everyone's too obsessed with ploughing our (frequent, small) Euromillions winnings back into the pot.

i got Mckelvey in our sweep, not bad odds.

balls. i had 4th and 5th.

had butlers cabin, point barrow, and backbeat.

no food for me this week.

so who have you backed?

put a tenner on "my will" and fiver each way on "darkness"

I love the Grand National but I have chosen "Darkness"

I've called the winner four times. I called "Silver Birch" on a Facebook forum thread half an hour before the race at 33-1. On nothing more than a whim. Didn't put any money on.

it's v easy to call the winner when you haven't put any money on.

blah blah well on all 4 occasions i was all "i'm backing x" and x won...if i'd put money on, i wdnt have changed my mind

"Pinkness" morelike btw

who do you call today then?

http://www.paddypower.com

you've kinda put me on the spot there...i'm not betting

...mostly coz i can't be fucked

your cassandra like talent goes to waste then

lol well Lord Gyllene and Earth Summit were easy shouts, Monty's Pass was a fairly sensible call and Silver Birch was the only really out-of-the-blue inspired one...

but i'm aware you're hardrolling me with fair accusations of mouthful notrousersness so i'll stfu until Darkness falls at the 5th

looooooool my mum just phoned me to pick a horse......my talent, should it prosper, won't go to waste after all

I'm having 5 each way on Butler's Cabin, purely for sentimental reasons i.e. would dearly love McCoy to get a win.

told her "Black Apalachi" to win, with "Cornish Sett" the outsider choice

IT IS TIME

lol false start

Memories of 1993 for a sec.

Oh Jesus Christ I'll shut up eh?

YOU'VE GOT 364 DAYS TO GET THIS SHIT RIGHT GUYZ

Rat's cocks. Fuck a Tony McCoy imo.

Y'know normally I moan about how outsiders can't win the National nowadays but that was a classy win.

idle talk dispointed me again

I spent most of the first circuit trying to work out if Butler's Cabin had fallen and I'd missed it but no he was ambling along in 20th or something like i was a fucking donkey ride at the beach.

That's pretty much everyone's experience of the national.

thought "my will" would do it but he was well beaten in the end. 100-1 winner, nice for the bookies and a few random flukers.

watched this with occasional ilm poster Flowersdie, who got 1st and 2nd place bets the lucky sod!

in the work sweepstake i've got arbor supreme and character building, irl got a fiver on don't push it and big fella thanks.

I'm on Don't Push It. Paddy Power have apparently offered to buy everyone in Liverpool a pint if it wins.

http://betting.gamingsupermarket.com/news/3166/the-drinks-are-on-paddy-power-if-ap-mccoy-wins-national

haha, class.

20/1 winner is me - also free beer for the Scousers!

omg actually winning on the grand national, unfathomable!

picked up here too, in the sweep and on willy hills, only got 12s though.

had state of play but not each way...

Glad McCoy finally won this ting, didn't have a bet cos I couldn't watch the race yesterday but tbh I wasn't gonna back him anyway.

Any luck today, anyone?

Had an e/w on State of Play in 4th (took the bookies' price of 25s, had gone out to 28s by the time the race started, bah), so tiny winnings. Was sitting with onimo this afternoon, who had a couple of quid on the winner.

Sorry for being a miserable fart, but two horses died for no point whatsoever. But we all had fun and won a few quid so it doesn't matter.

Agree with chris, my neighbour was cheery for winning £100, not bad for two lives!

Work sweepstake time, and again I have drawn a complete donkey. Any tips, folks?

If I make it to the bookies tomorrow:

Big Fella Thanks and Any Currency - each way
Seabass - ftw

I've got big fella thanks in our work sweepstake

Have missed this for the past few years and now it's all online betting rather than smokey bookies. Might have a punt...

I still go into a non-smokey bookies about once a fortnight, but usually for a football accumulator or two and the odd "what race is on next" flutter. I got Tarquinius in the work sweepstake, which is pretty much just free money directly to a co-worker. Is Seabass def worth a shout? I get the feeling the odds are shorter than would normally be expected because of the potential-lady-winner casual punter money being lumped on, but is that fair?

got work sweepstake fav

No-one gambles any more? Still having a wee think about it, probably plumping for Holywell. Keep losing money on The Druid's Nephew, so expect that'll probably win now I've turned against it. I won a free sweepstake entry in bet365's twitter sweep thing, so I'll see which carthorse they've saddled (lol pun) me with when the numbers get allocated.

I do and I'll be going again this year. Fancy Saint Are and Holywell if the ground is decent. Goonyella and Ucello Conti are interesting if it's a mudbath.

About 20 years ago, when gambling was still all done in the high st I was working as a betting shop manager and the GN was extremely hard work back then. From about 10 am there would be a constant unrelenting queue and it would be exhausting because countless noobs would be asking dense questions like What do I do? or are am I supposed to take a price or settle for SP? or some would have their bets written on scraps of paper and expect me to write them onto a betting slip for them.

ffs ITV they give you the job and look at this fuckery

never mind, cracking race

what did they fuck up?

couple of false starts, nothing to do with ITV i just like blaming them

plus for a minute i thought i'd backed the only non-runner

a lot of bookies seem to be paying each way terms on the first 6 places today, have gone for 100/1 shot Valseur Lido without reading any form.

I need a 100/1 winner to pay for a new bed!

I've gone for I Just Know, Saint Are and Shantou Flyer. I am rubbish at betting on the national though.

It's a real brutal numbers game of a race, nobody is good at it really.

Yeah going to give it a miss, if I was picking one I'd go for low odds Tiger Roll because I picked it at Cheltenham.

It used to be such a gruelling day when I worked in the bookies, seriously highly stressful. I've got an unfortunate friend who still works for an independent bookies, who is doing their last GN for them today and then on Sunday they are getting called in for a redundancy/company liquidation meeting.

I've backed 5 with a certain bookie who's immediately refunding the place part of each way bets

I just know (backed this at 33s a couple of weeks back, fingers crossed ailsa)
chase the spud 66-1
virgilio 66-1
houblon des obeaux 40-1
final nudge 50-1

Most of the favs look to have too much weight

Oh and pleasant company @ 33s

no clear favouritism in the betting at all so far. Fours horses on CF4 status @ 12/1.

lol! it's classic when an Irish jockey G-nat winner drops the f-word on live radio.

Tiger Roll :O

only a total mug punter would back such a hyped up short priced fav in this race I said.

he really cruised it

I heard someone saying his last run out was pretty special, earlier. Hence the red hot favouritism - but this really did sound like he pissed it on the 5 live commentary.

It was the first time I'd been tempted to put a bet on the fav, bookies' TV commentator said it was the best bet ever, or some such.

i had a couple of goes in sweeps, one led for most of the first lap before pulling up, the other one finished 5th i think. didn't bother having a bet, couldn't ever bring myself to back a favourite, especially in the National.

I suppose he's been very cleverly campaigned, a horse who wouldn't look out of place in a gold cup but they just hoover up handicaps and cross country races with him. He's an astonishing horse but I've never stuck a penny on him

Race severely delayed due to protestors, ITV right now have footage of police bundling the protestors off and various pundits saying the protestors are all idiots and wrong.

It's a brutal race and for my sins I couldn't resist a £1.05 each way bet on Lifetime Ambition at 40/1

i finally found an uncool conservative belief of my own

Lifetime Ambition is winning right now, but without a rider

my friend picked that one too, he only picks 'heavy metal' related horses and this was as close as he could get to an Iron Maiden song.

This snuck up on me this year, working from home means i missed out on any discussion and only found out this morning it was GN day.

If I'd have bothered, would have gone for Born by the Sea, massive 100/1 not a chance in hell sort of thing.

brutal falls this year, awful

lol, fair enough Lifetime Ambition

a bad result for the bookies

xxxp

Born By The Sea finished 6th at 50/1 and lots of the bookies are paying 6 places!

I was working in the bookies the year the IRA bomb threat caused the postponement, that was a real pain in the arse. Because it was like working two GN days when they re-run it on Monday.

Roi Mage in the sweep at work, outside chance for a place i think

tempted to have 5 each way on Mahler Mission, the name helps :D

as an addled numerologist who can't be bothered properly studying form anymore, I'm going for 40/1 shot, Stattler because I believe in the mystic power of the number nine. Also I respect this horse for pulling up in the gold cup, maximum respect to horses that don't gaf about big races!

obvious pick but corach rambler won so easily last year and his 3rd in the Gold Cup would suggest he's still well in at the weights despite being a stone higher than in 2023.

also on Panda Boy antepost at 40-1, galia des liteaux EW at 50-1, Mahler Mission EW at 16s and a cheeky fiver on Meetingofthewaters. Oh and backed Nassalam when it looked like the ground would be heavy after backing him when he won the Welsh National by 34 lengths but he's drifted in the betting like he lost a leg

i had had a look at Stattler too, A P McCoy was bigging up all of Willie Mullins's entries on the radio last night

it feels a slightly dull fact nowadays tho that the long shots have much less chance of the win than they used to do

compression of the weights and course adaptations bring the classier horses into it innit

yeah exactly, it's good that it's safer and a better race but i miss the chaos

agreed, it's lost a bit of character now half the field are trained by Mullins and Elliott

Mullins with 9 entries in one race is a bit of pisstake!

things that make you feel old: finding out AP McCoy is a year younger than you.

Lol everybody's younger than me now

Still haven't forgiven McCoy for winning this the first year I didn't back him

it feels like McCoy has been around forever. I can remember decades ago putting on 10p Yankees for my gran and her saying I've got 3 McCoy runners today. The guy must have been a fetus back then!

Lol, with my nan it was all Pat Eddery every saturday

I got a tip for Limerick Lace at 9/1

I got 14s on Mahler Mission and the local bookies are giving 1/4 odds on first five so that was nice

Always go with the Irish jockey my mum used to say - which wasn't any use as most of them are Irish.

Keep thinking of Capodanno as Cappadonna and considering a little comedy Wu bet

Favourite, easy, game's gone

I got money back from Minello Indo on the pub sweep tho so lol, not far off broke even

Classy run from the winner

between us all I don't think we could've got that race more wrong if we'd tried

the writing was on the wall when the my main pick,the previous year's easy winner, a gold cup 3rd, fell at the first

when I say we I mean me especially

I missed the first minute of the race and soon realised my horse must have been an early casualty. lol, might as well just back the jolly in this race from now on.

Yeah I think the one I actually backed must've fell at some point but I've been out since dinnertime so I'll take the sweep cashback, and tbf the favourite won it exactly like a favourite would look, in the pack until the last stretch then glided away

Congrats to Willie Mullins for landing a winner from his mere 9 runners

Each way on Kitty's Light = only slightly down (as I also bet on Mr Incredible, who was not incredible).

fell very early iirc. Mahler Mission did same, lol

Sad Ken

the grand national has seemingly overwhelmed the system at bet666, they owe me some money from last night and this morning and these bets still haven't been settled and results aren't updating. Fucking tinpot organisation.

funny i bet it works if you try giving them more money

it's functional again now, but yeah unless the site is completely down for maintenance, you can always make deposits and waste money on stupid stuff and then wait umpteen hours to get paid out. Someone will get dropped into a shark tank if the "still taking bets" part of the system fails.

I'm such an occasional mug punter nowadays I've only just discovered that the bookies by my local has closed down ffs

Wanna do a fiver on the favourite cos the name is synchronicitous for me, drawn Appreciate It in one pub sweep, gonna e/w Royale Pigaille cos the name calls to me

Totally disconnected from actual knowledge, which is the correct strategy imo

I've gone for Three Card Brag as a tribute to my late stepdad who was a mean card player and always would go to the PP bookies next to the Wetherspoons to have a bet on this cavalry charge.

Fiver each on Hewith and Minella Cocooner

Iroko my main fancy

scatter gun approach to my ew bets beauport 55-1, minella cocooner 28-1, broadway boy 66-1, three card brag 25-1

I got my actual bets on and I got
Minella Indo in the sweep in my local, seeing as it hasn't rained forever I can't see any huge upsets which was another reason to back Maximus

Another year, another few quid spunked up the wall 😃

lol

mine was in the front 4 for much of the race then faded in the last few jumps. An improvement on last year when the fucker didn't even get a mention!

Glad to see Randox sponsoring it. The COVID Grand National.

My wife who has no knowledge of horse racing managed to get the one-two. £46 from two £2 each way bets.

My horse led for half the race, then fell, may be dead, this is pretty typical.

xp

tell her always do reverse forecasts when you back 2 horses in 1 race, no don't actually!

Apparently not allowed to have a bet on this and vote Green, so i saved myself the money. Panic Attack screaming for it tho, obv

All these years, still can't organise a fucking start

Lol fell at the 3rd thank you based Polanski

two horses have died at Aintree since Friday. Obviously some kind of communist op to boost Polanski!

Of course that cunt wins when I haven't backed him

Straightforward win, too