The Grand National is the most popular horse race in the world. People from all over the world like to place bets on this Aintree steeplechase and watch the forty runners and riders encounter a series of obstacles before the long run home.
The Grand National is the most famous horse race in the world and is hugely popular with punters from across the UK and further afield. The 2025 edition takes place on Saturday, 12th April with a scheduled start time of 4.00pm BST.
Betting on the Grand National 2025 is big business with many leading bookmakers offering boosted odds and enhanced places win the big race. Indeed many Grand National free bets are readily available for punters to take advantage of and these can be claimed simply by registering with any of our featured bookmaker partners using the links provided.
Picking a potential National winner is no easy task and punters adopt various tactics in order to improve their chances. Many simply choose a name which appeals to them while others simply pick their favourite colour, however while these methods can sometimes prove fruitful, it is generally advisable to take a more scientific route.
Our recommendation is to study the form of your preferred horse and this will give you an insight into how it has performed in recent outings. Next to the name of each horse you will find a series of numbers and these are simply its finishing positions in its most recent races. These should be taken in context – for example a horse which shows a third-place finish in its last race may have been in a three-runner contest.
Letters such as C and D reflect a horse’s performance over that particular course of distance, while U and F indicate that the horse unseated its rider or fell in a race.
There is no magic formula for picking a winner in the Grand National. Indeed given the competitiveness and gruelling nature of this contest, finding a winner here is perhaps much harder than any other race but there can be no doubt that it is far more exciting. Given that there are forty Grand National runners and riders competing over some hugely testing fences, it isn’t surprising to see some very big-priced winners.
Odds of 40/1 or even 60/1 aren’t unusual for National winners and there have even been some priced at 100/1 which have romped home to victory. We recommend that you read our Grand National tips pages where you can read up on the latest news ahead of the big race and claim some exclusive Grand National free bets from our featured UK bookmaker partners.