I’ve noticed we’ve had a couple of posts on this thread lately (Thanks Nick) and I thought it might be a good idea to bounce it up so anyone new could add their favourite Grand National memories………..

Where it all began?

Most people’s earliest gambling memory will be of the Grand National.

Mine was of an annual 10p each way on a horse called The Pilgarlic. I seem to remember that he made the frame on a couple of occasions but never quite got his head in front. It became a family joke that I would be backing ‘that horse with the funny name’. Whatever happened it got me hooked and I’m pleased that it did.

Backing winners used to be easy!

The years have come and gone and the stakes have increased (marginally!) and I have fond (financial and otherwise) of Seagram and Party Politics but mostly of Last Suspect.

I was a Tim Forster fan back in the 80’s and I managed to convince myself that the Duchess of Westminster’s horse wasn’t the screwball that everyone else seemed to think he was. I can’t describe the feeling of backing a 50/1 Grand National winner but to a relatively young and inexperienced punter it was like gold dust.

Unfortunately finding winners since haven’t been quite as easy!

Tell us about your favourite Grand National Horses

Who are your favourite Grand National horses? Did you manage a nice win on your favourite or was there one that got away? Or perhaps it was just a horse you enjoyed watching jumping the big Grand National fences?

Let us know your thoughts.

By the way, does anyone know how many times The Pilgarlic ran in the Grand National and when?

Posted in Grand National History | 36 Comments »

The first entry stage for the Grand National 2010 is a week today and this will be the day when the Grand National starts to come into focus of the majority of punters and, inevitably, a number of horses will get backed as a result.

So, for those of us who are mulling over all things Grand National based for a much longer period of the year, this final week before the entries should be an opportunity to make our knowledge count.

Of course, we have to take calculated risks as to which horses are actually going to be in the entries if we have a bet now but in some cases I would rather take that chance than be scrambling to get a price when the internet and paper tipsters decide they like the look of a horse you’ve been thinking of backing for ages. With that in mind I’d like to ask our knowledgable members to put forward two pre-entries tips - one at Grand National Odds of under 50/1 and a more speculative suggestion as to an outsider that we might consider.

If you had to have two bets now under these circumstances who would you go for and why? I’ll put up similar threads as we get further down the entry process and we can see how our tips develop but I’d really like some early value tips from those of you who are putting in so much work.

I will start things off with Big Fella Thanks and Gone To Lunch.

I’m not sure how many of the main fancies still have any room for improvement but that is not something you could say about Big Fella Thanks. I was very impressed with his run in the Grand National last year for a horse so young and with the benefit of another year’s experience he could well be the horse that ends the Paul Nicholls hoodoo.

My other selection, Gone To Lunch, has been suggested as being aimed at the Scottish National instead, a race he finished second in last year. This may be so but targets often change and at 100+ on the exchanges I think Gone To Lunch could well end up at Aintree but, if not, at those prices we will not have lost too much. If he performs well at Doncaster on Saturday his price could contract so perhaps he is worth a bet now? His stamina and consistent form on decent ground would make him very interesting if he were re-routed to Aintree.

I’ve seen Maljimar put forward as an outsider to consider by some of our contributors and I’d like to see if anyone believes his current price at around 85 represents any value? How about Siegemaster or Parsons Pistol? Anyone taking these Irish horses at big prices?

Please give details of two horses you think are good value in the current Grand National Odds, one at under 50/1 and another at 50/1 or above.

Posted in Grand National 2010 | 15 Comments »

I thought it might be a good idea to have a reference page for all the important dates/races that could have a bearing on the Grand National. I’ll put down a few ideas of races that we might want to have on the list and then open it up to you guys for suggestions. I will also add the various forfeit/closing dates for the Grand National itself and then keep bouncing this article up the menu so it stays fresh and in the five articles currently on view. I have updated the list and added some other dates that may be useful:

Race              Date          Winner

Galway Plate	 July 29th	Ballyholland

Kerry National 	 16th September	Northern Alliance

Munster National 11th October	Treacle

Servo Hcap 	 14th November	Gallant Nuit

Paddy Power	 15th November  Tranquil Sea

Becher Chase	 22nd November	Vic Venturi

Hennessy	 28th November	Denman

London National	 6th December	Eric's Charm

Neptune Chase	 11th December  The Package

Blue Square Cup  19th December  ABANDONED 

Paddy Power(Leop)27th December  Oscar Time

Welsh National	 28th December  Dream Alliance

Peter Marsh	 23rd January   Our Vic

SkyBet Chase     30th January   ABANDONED

Racing Post Ch   27th February

Eider Chase      27th February

William Hill Hcap 16th March

Chelt Gold Cup	  19th March

Midlands National 20th March

Irish National	  5th April

Topham		  9th April

Grand National	  10th April

Scottish National 17th April

The important dates as far as the entries for the 2010 Grand National have been updated below (Thanks to Gammers for the info):

Entries close noon on Feb 2nd.

Weights announced Feb 16th.

First Forfeit Stage noon on Mar 2nd.

2nd Forfeit Stage noon on Mar 23rd.

Confirmation stage April 5th.

Final Decs April 8th.

Race Day April 10th.

Posted in Grand National 2010 | 10 Comments »

2009 Grand National winner Mon Mome has the latest run in his season today at Haydock in the Peter Marsh Chase and whilst he looks up against it today it will be interesting to see how he fairs with a view to defending his crown in the Grand National 2010.

Other Grand National prospects on show this weekend include King Johns Castle and Southern Vic in a big handicap chase over 2m 5f at Leopardstown and Black Apalachi who is having his first run of the season in the Pertemps Hurdle Qualifier at the same meeting.

Black Apalachi seems to be lagging behind in interest on our blog compared to some of the other Grand National Runners and yet, at first glance, seems to have solid claims to be at the top of our staking plans.

Dessie Hughes seems keen to hold on to his existing handicap mark and there are no plans to run over fences until after the publication of the weights. Two incompletions in three attempts over the Grand National fences may temper enthusiasm but many a punter will be swayed by how well he was going when unseating at Bechers Brook last year and the imperious nature of his win in last year’s Becher Chase.

Please start adding your general thoughts on the Grand National 2010 on this page and start off by giving your opinions on the horses running this weekend but please also give a potential Black Apalachi backer the reasons why or why not they should back this horse for Grand National 2010.

Posted in Grand National 2010 | 660 Comments »

Hi everyone,

You may recall I flagged up recently that we are also running a blog on the Cheltenham Festival on one of out other sites Cheltenham Betting but a few teething problems meant that some of you were having problems viewing the actual page that the blog is on.
We have now updated the software and everything should now be working 100%.
I’ve just added a new thread on the Cheltenham Gold Cup and we’d love to see some of our regulars over there giving their views on all the races at the Festival.

Just click on the link below and you should access the blog page direct on the Cheltenham site:

Cheltenham Blog

Please also look round the full Cheltenham Site as it is packed with trends and previews and we will be updating more tips as we get nearer the Festival:

Cheltenham Betting

We hope to see you over there soon

Thanks
Darren
Admin

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Arbor Supreme has been attracting a fair bit of attention here on Grand National Blog and has also sneaked up the ante-post prices for the Grand National 2010 to a best price of 25/1 with Stan James

The Willie Mullins trained gelding is declared in the runners for the Thyestes Chase at Gowran Park so I thought this might be a good time to set up a page for him and have a look at his record and prospects in a bit of detail and then open it up to our readers for their thoughts.

Arbor Supreme won a bumper at Leopardstown on his debut in January 2007 and it was after that run that he was purchased by JP McManus. Two subsequent runs over hurdles failed to add to his tally of wins and he returned in the 07/08 season ready to tackle the larger obstacles. His first four runs over fences were at distances up to 2m 5f and it was only when stepped up to 28furlongs and into handicap company for the first time was there the true indications of what Arbor Supreme might become. That race was the Punchestown Grand National trial and the young Mullins horse ran well to finish second to Chelsea Harbour.

Four subsequent runs that season gleaned two victories, including a win at Punchestown over 3m 6f where Black Apalachi, Notre Pere and Niche Market were all well beaten.

The 08/09 season began as the previous one had ended with a victory, this time at Fairyhouse over 3m 5f. At that point, anything seemed possible for the son of Supreme Leader but in five subsequent runs he has failed to finish better than third.

So, from a plus point, he has age on his side, stamina proven at up to 30 furlongs, victories on ground ranging from good to soft/heavy, a top-class trainer, he would probably be set to carry a weight in the low to middle ten stone range if he retains his current handicap mark, he has an owner who is very keen to win the Grand National and possibly the services of AP McCoy in the saddle if he does go to Aintree.

The negatives could be that his two main handicap wins have come at right-handed courses, he has yet to travel outside of Ireland, he possibly could have hit his handicap ceiling at around 140, his trainer seems reluctant (as far as I am aware) to commit him to the Grand National and may prefer the Irish National earlier the same week as Aintree.

How do you view Arbor Supreme’s chances in the Grand National 2010?

Posted in Grand National Runners 2010 | 12 Comments »

The new year is here and things are starting to hot up on the ante-post scene for the Grand National 2010.

Are you getting a short-list that you feel happy about? Have you actually had many bets yet? I’d be interested to know how many of our contributors have made an ante-post wager on the Grand National before the new year and what inspired them to do so if they have. And those that haven’t what is stopping you from investing? Do you believe that the Grand National Odds have a lot of fluctuation still to make? Are you waiting for the entries or the weights?

Let us know what strategy you employ when making an ante-post bet on the Grand National and if you have had a bet, who was it on?

Maybe you fancy the yet to race in 09/10 Tricky Trickster? The National Hunt Chase winner is now trained by Paul Nicholls and the Champion Trainer seems to keen to hide his new charge from the eyes of the handicapper?

If you do fancy Tricky Trickster he can be backed at 16/1 with Boylesports

Posted in Grand National 2010 | 609 Comments »

Hi everyone,

Calling All NH Fans! We Need Your Input!

We are working on getting our blog on our Cheltenham Betting site off the ground and the extremely high level of the responses on the blog here on Grand National Guide is exactly the kind of input we are looking for - Can you help?

http://www.cheltenham-betting.co.uk/

We like to think there is some great info on the site that could help new and experienced punters alike and the addition of a more active blog this year will, we hope, give our readers even more of an edge over the bookies during the four days of the fabulous Cheltenham Festival. But we need your help. As you well know blogs thrive on vibrant discussion so we would be very grateful if our regulars (and any newcomers) would be so good as to pop in and give us their thoughts on the five opening threads we have set up on the four major races and an open thread on the other races.

Hopefully then the Cheltenham Blog will become a regular stopping off point for you all!

You can get to the blog through the main site link at the top of the page or through the handy link below:

Cheltenham blog

We’d love to see you all over there as well as here on Grand National Guide and once again thank you all for all your marvellous input over the last couple of years.

Darren
Admin

Posted in Uncategorized | 19 Comments »

Would Black Apalachi have won the Grand National had he not fallen at Bechers Brook second time round?

Hi everyone and apologies for the delay in new posts recently but I’ve been away on leave and busy working on some other projects. I thought I’d continue the possible runners for Grand National 2010 thread with the very interesting, Black Apalachi.

Three times a runner over the Aintree fences he has failed to complete on two occasions in the 2008 and 2009 Grand Nationals but recorded an emphatic win in the 2008 Becher Chase in between those two failures to negotiate the Aintree fences.

Over enthusiasm was blamed for his fall at the second fence in 2008 but he was going really well when unseating his rider at Bechers when in the lead in 2009. Would he have maintained his position after being in the lead for most of the race or would he have tired in the later stages of the race?
Bookmakers are obviously fearful of the horses chances for 2010 and his Grand National Odds are 25/1 with a number of firms including Stan James

It’s very difficult to be authoritative about how the race would have unfolded if Black Apalachi had stayed on his feet in 2009 but as he will only be aged eleven come the 2010 race and unlikely to be campaigned in a way that will increase his handicap mark he must have a very sound chance of being a strong challenger next April.

What do you think of Black Apalachi’s chances at Aintree? Would he have won in 2009 with a clear round? Can you be positive about the horse for 2010 if he already has two incompletions at Aintree? Give us your thoughts on Black Apalachi on this page.

Posted in Grand National Runners 2010 | 3 Comments »

Please add all your news and views on the chances of Niche Market in the 2010 Grand National on this page.

The Irish National winner has now also run a stormer in the Hennessy - does that make him one of the top choices for the Grand National 2010

Posted in Grand National Runners 2010 | 13 Comments »