Why the Grand National Still Owns the UK Betting Calendar

But the Grand National? That’s a one-day-only affair, the biggest betting event in the entire UK sports calendar, and on its own it generates an estimated £250m to £350m a year in, year out. 

Britain Loves an Underdog

Most of the friends I’d consider true horse racing punters avoid the National. Every now and again, one of us will bet on it, with solid rationale, and almost always, we’re wrong.

That unpredictability is exactly what lures casual bettors in. In an environment that usually rewards expert analysis, hours of form studying, pace maps, ratings, trainer form, and line movement, the National sticks up two fingers. It is gloriously chaotic.

The proof? The shortest priced winners in Grand National history are Huntsman at 3/1 back in 1862 and Poethlyn at 11/4 back in 1919. There hasn’t been a shorter-priced winner for more than a century!^[1]

But if you need more proof that anything can happen, you don’t need to look far. Below are five 100/1 shots that came home to win the National…

• Mon Mome (2009) 
• Foinavon (1967)
• Caughoo (1947 
• Gregalach (1929)
• Tipperary Tim (1928)

As well as Mon Mome in 2009, there have been some other 21st-century long shots too. Auroras Encore won at 66/1 in 2013 and Noble Yeats at 50/1 in 2022. Imagine if you’d had those in the office sweepstake!

That’s exactly the thing about the National, even if you’ve not studied the form, you don’t usually have an interest in racing, and you’ve only stuck a quid on, there’s a chance your 100/1 shot with the funny name might just make it home to win it.

The Grand National is Storytelling in Action

Most betting markets are transactional. You place the bet, the event happens, and everyone moves on more or less immediately.

The Grand National seems to work a little differently. It has a way of turning horses into modern folklore, occasionally jockeys and trainers too.

Your nan who rode a pony on Blackpool beach once but hasn’t seen a horse in the flesh since, much less studied a form guide? I bet she remembers Red Rum. She might even remember Ginger McCain.
More recently in 2021, Rachael Blackmore made history as the first ever female jockey to win the National. That was actually one of the rare years that I had made a bet on the National - arguably an emotional one. The tears in my eyes as Minella Times stormed across the finish line weren’t because I’d be collecting though, (albeit about £20) they were for what that moment meant for the sport.

The Great British public loved the story of Tiger Roll romping home to win the National not once but twice. The pretty diminutive flat-bred horse. The horse that never made it into a flat race. The one that originally sold for just £10,000. That is story-making in action.